Nine Versions of Purple
by DarkBright Cipher
Summary: Our story starts off in Nepmas time as Noire and Neptune spend a passionate night that will forever change them. While it is the time of giving, they both receive a gift that is priceless, and unmatched. They must now follow this unexpected path of happiness that will force them to learn and grow quickly for the sake of their new gift. Sequel to Same Person Different Entity.
1. The Most Wonderful Gift Of All

**Chapter 1: The Most Wonderful Gift of All**

Nepstation, the mega grand nation that is ruled by the married CPU couple called Purple Heart and Black Heart, however, their friends call them Neptune and Noire, which is what they like to go by. It has been many months since these two united in holy matrimony and one month after Compa and IF's wedding. The amount of shock that their nation received from the announcement that they were going to get married was staggering, to say the least, yet it was a joyous shock as both of their nations accepted it. In truth, they knew that they were perfect for each other and were happy that Lady Noire was finally able to come to terms with her feelings.

We now peer into their lives once again on the day before Nepmas Eve that was just a few hours away from striking midnight. They had just arrived back to their Basilicom on that peaceful night from attending a charity event that helped families that struggled for newborn baby items that they themselves could not afford. It was one of many activities that they decided to run that also happened to align with the holiday joy, however, this one proved to have absolutely melted their hearts from the sheer joy they created.

The room was dark and quiet with no activity at all. There stood a bed that was big enough for two with a nightstand next to it that had a picture frame. In that frame, there was a picture of a magical day that was forever captured. It was the day when Neptune and Noire had gotten married, and their smiles were forever captured as they wore matching wedding dresses with their hands interlocked. This was a standard wedding since the day before it, they had done the process that was required to join together by combining their nation's Sharicite after using their blood. After the inner walk, there were no problems as they were able to link together. This was the beginning of their new nation called Nepstation; a nation created from the foundations of both Planeptune, and Lastation.

Sounds could be heard from the other side of the door as it burst open with a loud bang as Purple Heart and Black Heart leaned against each other due to a long day of helping their nation. The room filled with joy and laughter as they hugged to feel the other's body heat during this cold night.

"Neptune, did you see the look on those happy babies and parents when we raised all that funding?" Said Black Heart who was in high spirits. You might say, that a CPU being in this high spirited state was akin to someone being drunk. That they were because, in a sense, all the positivity that they created today had heightened their share energy causing their emotions to take on an almost drunken state of bliss.

"I know, my darling. It broke my heart how there are so many new families that lack the necessities that all babies need," said Purple Heart who was feeling happy inside that she was able to change that today.

"We can rest easy knowing that those families are going to be supported by our help, especially through the holiday that is coming," said Black Heart who kissed her wife tenderly on the lips.

"As they should. They're our people whose life took an unsuspecting turn financially when their babies were just about to be born."

"Yeah, I never knew how precious the little ones can look when you're so close to them," said Black Heart.

"Oh, they can be a bundle of sunshine, Noire. They're sweet, innocent, and look at the world with so much hope in their eyes," said Purple Heart.

"Jeez, I do hate myself for neglecting the little ones in the past. I mean, I never really personally dealt with them in the past, but it really does feel nice."

There was a none verbal spark in the air that signaled them both about what they were feeling. This spark was unsuspecting of them as it mixed and twirled with their aura of share energy using their already heightened emotions from the wonderful event they had dispersing good and hope as a base to this unknown energy that was newly created.

They connected their hands together as they came to realize that their burning desire for each other was elevated to a state that they had never felt before. Their touch felt overpowered as their skin tingled with an overload of sensations that gave them goosebumps.

"Noire, do you feel this?" Said Purple Heart resting her head near the crook of Black Heart's neck and letting her warm breath tingle her wife.

"How can I not? I've never felt this way before. This… unreal sensation that makes me weak in the knees yet urges me to be in this embrace. Like… reliving our first official kiss times a hundred." This burning unknown passion that clawed from the depths of their souls was too much for her as she shoved Purple Heart at the nearest wall.

Purple Heart didn't mind this rough show of force from her wife which was an added change from their usual tender lovemaking in the past.

Black Heart advanced on her like a predator going for their pray. They connected again in a steamy kiss that was a struggle for dominance. In the end, Black Heart threw her wife on the bed to quench both of their unreal desires. That night, warm winter clothes were discarded and moans of unfathomable pleasure rang all throughout the Basilicom housing unit that poor Histoire was probably covering her ears with a pillow just to make it through the night.

Sometime later, in the afterglow of their lovemaking, Purple Heart and Black Heart finished it off with a heated kiss that released what was left of the pent-up urges that they had. They rolled over to their side of the bed while looking at the ceiling in a sheer thought of amazement.

"That was… well, that was one to remember, for sure. HDD sex is amazing!" said Black Heart who had a smile on her face.

"Oh, Noire. That was wonderful," said Purple Heart who worried that her face would stay stuck from all the smiling.

"I… didn't hurt you, right?" Said Black Heart with worry in her voice.

"Only mildly, Noire. Don't feel bad, it felt very nice to see you take charge over our lovemaking. I guess I have to thank your rough, but adorable HDD personality for that," said Purple Heart.

"Stop, you're making me blush, but thank you for saying that. I've never thought of doing it in HDD, but we are definitely doing that again," said Black Heart.

"I agree so much, Noire. Say… was there anything that you loved about me in this form?" Asked Purple Heart.

"There are lots I like about you Neptune, but in this form… there's just so much of you to grab," laughed Black Heart.

"Are you saying that I'm fat?" Said Purple Heart playfully.

"Don't start. You know exactly what I mean when I say that and you are perfect in any form." Black Heart leaned in for a kiss in which it was received by her wife. They spent the rest of the night wrapped together in sheets.

The morning soon came as Noire fluttered her eyes open due to the brief rays of sun that the cloudy skies would allow. The rays penetrated the room with its warmth that still felt wonderful on the skin. She loved moments like these when she would wake up next to her wife to greet the day with open arms. She rolled over to hug her wife from behind, but she found something strange about how she was holding her wife.

Her eyes adjusted to the light, and the first thing she saw was long purple hair. This surprised her to the point that she screamed and fell off the side of the bed since she was expecting to see Neptune in her human form.

"Noire!" Said Purple Heart who lifted herself to a sitting position with the sheets still wrapped around her.

"Neptune! Why are you still in HDD?!" Asked Noire.

"I'm what?!" Purple Heart looked at her hands to see that she was still in her HDD. "I… don't know," said Purple Heart with equal worry shown on her face. She then made a face that appeared to be one of revulsion as she quickly got up to make a dash to the bathroom.

Noire heard the door slammed followed by intense vomiting. Noire quickly put on some sweats and a loose shirt as she made her way to the door. "Sweetie, what's wrong? Answer me."

It was not too long from that that Noire and Purple Heart made their way to the medical room that was inside the Basilicom with Histoire.

Histoire looked like she had seen better days with how tired she looked. She made a large yawn before inspecting Purple Heart who was sitting on the patient's table who also looked like she had seen better days.

Purple Heart was wearing a loose white shirt with blue shorts that looked tighter on her probably because those shorts were supposed to fit her human form. Her stomach was mostly empty now from all the vomiting, and her flawless hair looked very unscrupulous with small hairs sticking out.

"Okay, Neptune, say, Ahh," said Histoire as she placed a wooden stick in Purple Heart's mouth.

Purple Heart followed all the things that Historie told her all the while looking at her wife with worry who was behind Histoire.

Histoire then held onto Purple Heart's wrist. "Hmm, that is odd."

"What's odd?" Said Noire.

"I can feel her blood flowing, but share energy isn't radiating," said Histoire.

"What!? That's impossible. Neptune and I radiate the same share energy, so whatever is going on with her must also be working on me, and I feel my share energy."

"Let me see your eyes, Neptune." Histoire stared into Purple Heart's eyes finding more info that was useful. "No, Noire, her share energy is intact as it should be, but the thing is… it's not being expended. At least… not out of her body as share radiation should."

"What does that even mean, Histoire?" Said Purple Heart.

"What it means is that you are not burning share energy, especially since you are in your HDD. Another thing that this means is that your HDD is neither straining nor draining your body. The thing is, I don't know how your body is doing this. Your share energy must be getting used on something else if you're gaining share energy but not expending it through radiation or HDD burning."

"So, what you're saying is that my HDD is acting like my human form?" Said Purple Heart.

"Yes, and no. Even in your human form, you still radiate share energy. All CPUs do that, and it's more of a passive effect that helps the body accommodate share energy by expending it out slowly so that new share energy can go in. And it doesn't matter how much share energy you get from your nation as long as it's being let out in a timely manner. Without this, your body would start to break from all the share energy continuously coming in."

"I see," said Purple Heart.

"Histoire, if she isn't burning energy through HDD or through radiation, then what can explain all this?" Said Noire.

"I don't know what's going on with her body, but we can at least take comfort that her energy is being used somehow, and I did call someone that might help us out since she deals in hidden CPU functions," said Histoire.

Just as she said that, a portal opened up revealing Croire. "Yo, I was told that you guys were having chocolate pancakes," said Croire. She scanned the room and looked at Purple Heart. "Man, you look like shit," she said causing Purple Heart to look away in annoyance.

"Croire, I called you here to see if you could give a check up on Neptune," said Histoire.

"So… no pancakes?" She said flatly.

"Oh, Jeez! I'll give you pancakes if you can check what's wrong with Neptune!" Shouted Noire.

"Me? I'm no doctor," said Croire.

"That is true, but you seem to know more stuff about CPU anatomy that I myself was unaware of. I ask you to please check her because she has this strange case where her body is in HDD, but she isn't burning it or wasting it through share radiation," said Histoire.

"Really? Well, that sure is an odd one."

"Yes, she can't even change back, and I also concluded that she isn't in danger since, for some unexplained reason, her share energy is being used somehow," said Histoire.

Croire was looking more interested as Histoire went on. "So, Neptune. How've you been?" She said casually with a smug on her face.

"I've been better, but I am grateful that whatever this is isn't life-threatening," said Purple Heart.

"Yeah, that would be bad; to you and your wife since you both share the same life and all," she said rather nonchalant.

Purple Heart looked at Croire with hints of anger on her face but cast that aside. "Please, can you help me," said Purple Heart.

"Oh, Neptune. I can't help you… but I can provide you with an explanation," said Croire with a big smile.

"Then please tell us what's going on with my wife," asked Noire.

"Have you vomited recently?" Asked Croire.

"Y-Yes, when I woke up I felt my stomach had churned as if I was spun around in a tornado," said Purple Heart who was holding her stomach just of the thought of that.

"Hmm… and by any chance, did anything eventful happened last night?"

Purple Heart had dawned a blush. "Does it matter?"

"It would help me a lot to my conclusion," said Croire with a friendly smile that Purple Heart wondered if it was even a true sincere smile.

"Noire and I had a passionate night," said Purple Heart.

"I would expect it to be passionate considering how loud you two were," said Histoire with a little-unresolved annoyance from the fact that she didn't get any sleep.

"So, you had sex?" Said Croire with a raised playful eyebrow.

"And what of it? We're married and it's only natural! I fail to understand why that is even important!" Shouted Noire who was also blushing.

"Wow, dense much? Okay, I'm just going to flat out say it. Neptune, you're pregnant."

"WHAT!" Shouted all three in the room.

"Yeah, that's why your body is in HDD, and why you aren't burning share energy or radiating it. That greedy little CPU share baby in you is keeping your body in top condition while it siphons your share energy for its own little gains."

"I'm… pregnant?"

"Yeah, you hear that Noire? Your little bun is in the oven," laughed Croire.

A smack was then heard as it turned out that Noire had fainted from the shell shock of news she had just received.

"Ah, the joys of fatherhood," mocked Croire to Noire who was still on the ground passed out.

Time had advanced to an hour later when Noire had started cooking up some pancakes. She only did this to distract her mind from the news she had received about Neptune, and she figured that as long as she kept cooking, she would force that topic onto the future.

Croire was at the table counter as she smelled the wonderful aroma of pancakes in the air that made her mouth salivate. "Hmm, I kinda like this version of you that bakes until her heart stops just to avoid the inevitable news,"

"I'm not avoiding it, I'm just distracting myself until I have all my questions in order," said Noire as she madly flipped a pancake that was in her skillet.

"Answers? Hmm, I know where this is going," said Croire.

It was in this moment that Histoire had entered the kitchen. "I just put Neptune down for a nap. She felt kind of tired, and wanted to be left alone," said Histoire.

"Alone? Isn't this what they both wanted? The fact that they're going to have a baby means that they were planning for this." Croire nearly jumped from her book when a stack of pancakes had been presented in front of her face.

"Eat, and answer my questions," said Noire who had a mean look on her face.

Croire sighed but grabbed a fork and knife as she began to slice the delicious pancakes. "Fine, since you gave me food, I'll feed you answers that you apparently aren't aware, I guess."

"How were we suppose to know? You never told us anything about this," replied Noire.

"I told you that married CPUs had the ability to have a baby," barked Croire.

"Yeah, and that's all you said about that. It's been months since you said that and Neptune and I forgot. Don't even get me started about how we could have prevented it since we are both girls, and find this weird to begin."

"You seem rather upset. This could have been prevented very easily if both of you didn't want a baby in the first place!"

"What?!"

"To have a baby, both of the CPUs must want it, and a baby is made only when share energy is high, meaning that you two were probably doing some good deeds out there," said Croire.

"We both have to want it?"

"Yes, when shares are high, and the CPUs have a desire to have a baby, the share energy does its work by making you both feel hot for each other to put it simply. It does this because it's helping you two achieve the reality that you both want and it needs to be done while both of you are in a euphoric passion."

"This… this… why didn't you tell us?"

"I shouldn't have! This process only works if you both want it. Even if shares were high, and both of you were hot for each other, the share energy would only respond to this miracle if both of you wanted it."

Noire sat down feeling that her legs were shaky enough that she might faint again.

"By that look on your face, I bet that this is a surprise for both of you. It's strange to see a CPU unaware of what they did," said Croire.

"This is too much to take in," said Noire who covered her face.

Croire scarfed down a pancake and pointed her fork at Noire. "This is a blessing, this is the perfect gift you could give your nation, really."

"So, what's going to happen now?" Said Noire.

"I don't know. Hold your wife and tell her whatever you feel. And this is not a mistake since, at some level deep in that brain of yours, you wanted this little girl," said Croire.

"G-Girl?" Said Noire who held her breath steady to hear the response.

"Well, yeah. All CPUs have baby girls, so you should start being happier," said Croire.

After Croire had her fill of pancakes, she left back to Ultra leaving Noire with Histoire in the kitchen. "Histoire, we are going to have a baby," said Noire. Every time she said it, it felt unreal to her. Was she even ready to take on this responsibility?

"And a baby girl of all that. Noire, my personal opinion about this, I think it's too soon for you two to have a baby. But, everything is now in motion and this baby is going to be born in the near future. The question is, how is Neptune dealing with this? I have to be truthful that I never imagined Neptune to be a mother," said Histoire.

"I'm going to talk to her about this," said Noire with a strong mindset.

"Should I inform Nepgear and Uni over there at their Basilicom?"

Noire stopped in her tracks when that hit her mind. "Oh, jeez! I totally forgot that Uni and Nepgear wanted us to go over there to spend Nepmas with them. They even agreed to deal with all the food!"

"I just also remembered that too. Hmm, this will be a topic that will have to be breached with them," said Histoire.

"Yes, but we'll tell them when we get there, and not a second sooner when we know that the time is perfect," said Noire. She walked to her room with slow steps finding that she could prolong this as much as she could. But alas, she was facing the door to her and her wife's room with anxiety. She opened the door to reveal her wife wrapped in sheets on the bed as she was looking away from the door.

"Neptune, there's pancakes in the kitchen. You haven't had anything to eat yet," said Noire.

"I don't have much of an appetite, Noire. My body just feels tired," she said as she lifted herself from the bed to look at her wife.

"You need to eat something, Neptune. It's not good for the…" She stopped her words there feeling that if she finished them, then it would all seem real.

"For the baby? Is that what you were going to say?" Said Purple Heart with an emotionless face.

"Yes, for the baby. Our baby, Neptune."

Purple Heart looked at her stomach as her face remained neutral. "How did this happened, Noire?"

"Croire said that it happened when shares are high, and when we spend a passionate night together. It makes sense given that we helped out our nation with that charity event, and what we did when we got back last night."

"It's still too confusing. We've done it many times, and this happens? How did we even…?"

"She… also said that the both of us need to want it. That at some point during our passionate night, we were thinking about a baby of our own," finished Noire.

Purple Heart looked at her wife with tears in her eyes that made Noire feel a little guilty. "Noire, you got me pregnant," she said it more as a statement than a question.

"T-This I-Isn't my fault completely, Neptune! You must have been thinking the same thing, too." She hated being far away from her wife, and so she walked to the bed to sit on it while her wife kept looking at her with no readable emotion, except tears.

"Noire, what were you thinking? That was related to the baby?"

Noire looked incredibly red in the face, as she forced the words out. "I was thinking of booties, okay? You know, those little shoes that babies wear? I was thinking how cute they would look on a baby of our own," she said with not being able to look at her.

"Noire…" said Purple Heart who stopped crying. Noire then felt two arms wrapped around her neck that made her confused. Here she was thinking that Purple Heart was mad or disappointed with her. "Those words bring me so much joy. I was thinking of wool hats and onesies for a baby of our own," said Purple Heart who now had a warm smile on her face.

"Neptune…? Are we really ready for this baby? Croire said… that it's a baby girl."

Purple Heart said nothing as Noire felt the embrace only become stronger. "I can't be for sure, but when I looked at all those babies that were so happy with joy, it made me think about the possibility of having one of our own. And we don't have much of a choice because I refuse to…"

"NO! That's not an option! This baby is a gift not just to us, but our nation. We are having this baby Neptune, and we will love her unconditionally," declared Noire with a jump from the bed.

"Oh, Noire. Thank you."

"I'm not going to lie. I'm scared, but I want to be that pillar of strength for you. This is our Nepmas gift after all." Noire kissed the top of her wife's head as a loving gesture with her embrace also getting stronger.

Purple Heart smiled brightly at her wife's actions and words that were already giving her the support that she needed.

"Still, I want you to eat something, Neptune."

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that my stomach feels nauseous."

"That must be a side effect of the pregnancy, Neptune. Can you at least try a little? We have a long day today since we need to get ready to go to Uni and Nepgear's Basilicom."

Purple Heart widen her eyes as the realization sank in. "Oh my, I wonder how they will take the news," said Purple Heart.

Noire gave off a smirk. "From the fact that they're going to be aunts? They will be extremely excited."

They both found joy and laughter in those words. A while later, Purple Heart was in the living room while Noire was in the kitchen washing the dishes. Noire looked at the clock that revealed that it was fastly approaching noon.

"Darn, we need to get ready. Uni kind of wanted us to get there soon to spend time!" Shouted Noire to make sure that her wife could hear her.

"I'm almost done eating, Noire," said Purple Heart who was trying to keep her food down while she finished cleaning her plate.

For Purple Heart, that was one of the many challenges that she had to face, because, after that, she needed to get changed, and that proved to be the hardest one of all. It soon became clear to her that all of her winter clothes were too small for her. She had her dress hoodies, but all of them were in the washer. Even her clothes that she had brought with her from yesterday's charity event when she was in HDD had already been used leaving her with few options to pick. She didn't even want to get started about pants.

Luckily, and thankfully, Noire provided the solution to her problems as she gave her a black jacket with gray pants, black shoes, and a white wool hat.

Once that was resolved, Noire dressed up in her outfit that was a blue jacket, black pants, black shoes, and a blue wool hat.

They then met up with Histoire who was waiting for them at the balcony of the living room. The view out there was a marvelous one that was the perfect embodiment of a snowy wonderland that would have given Lowee, or Boxwee, which was now called ever since Vert and Blanc united after they got married about two months ago, a run for its money.

"Are we all set?" Said Histoire who had on a blue small jacket with some ear muffs.

The married couple each had a bag over their shoulders that were filled with the gifts that they bought for their little sisters and with other things they needed for spending a few days with them that they promised. "Yeah, the sooner we get there the better," said Noire as she activated her HDD along with her processor outfit. She looked at her wife who had her eyes shut in intense concentration. "What's the matter, Neptune?" Said Black Heart

"I can't seem to activate my outfit or my wings for that matter," she said sadly.

"What? That's strange. Maybe it has to do with the pregnancy. Here, I can carry you if I must," said Black Heart.

Purple Heart then sneezed loudly that spooked Black Heart and Histoire. "That might not be the best idea. Hate to say this, but I'm starting to feel a lot colder than I should be in HDD."

"Really? Cold shouldn't bother us in HDD," said Black Heart.

"Try explaining that to my nose, Noire," She sneezed again loudly as her nose started to turn red from the cold.

"If that's the case, we might try to avoid flying over there. It's already bad enough that we are so high up on the balcony for Neptune to be experiencing this cold," said Histoire.

"I'm sorry, Noire. This pregnancy has my body acting up all odd like."

"Hey, it's not your fault. We can take a train over there if we must as long as you stay in good health. Besides, it's probably for the best this way, since we should really buy dessert to give them when we get there," said Black Heart.

"Oh, a welcoming gift! That's a wonderful idea, Noire," said Histoire.

Purple Heart looked away in shame that she was forcing them to lose on time, this was something that Black Heart quickly caught wind of. "Neptune, it's okay, we will only be a little late than intended."

Purple Heart gave her a smile nonetheless for her understanding. "Okay, Noire." When she said that, she felt a sensation hit the lower part of her body that was of the utmost importance. "Umm, let me just go to the bathroom really quick," she said as she stormed off in a rapid speed leaving Black Heart and Histoire stunned.

"It seems that Neptune is very vulnerable for now, we should focus on making her comfortable." Said Histoire.

"Yeah, I need to be there for her, and show her that she isn't alone." The problem with that, she didn't know how to truly go about doing that.

The three of them soon left the Basilicom as they welcomed the chilly air and holiday cheer that had flooded the streets. Snow was everywhere, from the sidewalks to the streets that had cars driving slow. As they walked to the train station, they came across people singing songs, people scurrying around with boxes of gifts as they placed them in their cars. One of the things that they saw made Purple Heart stop as they got close to West Nepstation grand park where, just at the entrance to the park, there were two kids building a snowman while their mom waited patiently near a bench. The look on the mom's face told Purple Heart that she wanted to get home quick due to the cold, but yet, she said nothing as she smiled at her kids having a fun time.

"Neptune, what's wrong?" Asked Noire when she noticed that she had stopped.

"I'm just enjoying the day, along with the people who are also enjoying it. We end up missing all the small things when we rush that it's refreshing to take it slow."

"That does have its perks, however, Uni won't forgive us if we show up any later than she recommended," said Noire.

"You're right, we shouldn't keep them waiting," said Purple Heart. Before they made their way to the train station, they went to a bakery to get some dessert. They were quick on the choice when they grabbed a cherry pie that was sealed in a nice insulated box to keep it warm as possible. They then reached the train station as they bought tickets and got ready for their ride to East Nepstation, which was once called Lastation but is now run by the help of Uni and Nepgear.

"It feels really nice in here," said Purple Heart as the hot air warmed her cold skin and bones to a nice soothing feel.

"You got to love Nepmas, right, Neptune?" said Noire with a wink.

"It's truly stunning to see the nation bathed in beautiful snow," said Purple Heart.

There was a sting in Noire's heart from the fact that she felt that something had been lost from what Purple Heart had said. It quickly came to view that she expected Purple Heart to respond how she does in her human form with loud cries of joy, attached with a funny joke and an eye wink.

"Of course, all this wonderful snow is only made this magical with our loved ones spending it with us," said Purple Heart. She then proceeded to wink at Noire who blushed. It wasn't the interaction that she desired, but this was on the same level regardless, and she loved it truly.

The train ride took a couple of hours, but the nice part was that there weren't that many people on board. This was probably because if anyone was traveling back home for the holidays, they would have done it days earlier. The train soon came to a screeching halt as it was time to get off.

"Hmm, we finally arrived?" Said Histoire who had been sleeping on her book for the whole ride here while Purple Heart and Noire had been looking out of the window at a snowy Gamindustri as it came and went. They had a silence that was in no way awkward to them as it was rather enjoyable for them just being together.

"Yes, we're here… and Uni is nuking my phone with so many messages asking me why they are waiting for us in the train station," said Noire with a sigh.

"You didn't tell them?" Said Purple Heart.

"Well, I don't know how to break it to them that my wife couldn't transform into her outfit because she is pregnant with our miracle share baby," said Noire slightly annoyed.

"I see," said Purple Heart sadly.

Noire once again sighed mostly at herself for saying such harsh words to her wife. "No, Neptune… it's not your fault. It's the stress of telling them, that's all."

"You don't need to stress. We'll tell them together," said Purple Heart kindly.

They soon got off the train along with what little people that were on it. They then saw a sign that spoke volumes to them, that sign was "Old Lastation." This sign was a representation of the area located around the Basilicom that was named Old Lastation deemed by the people and the CPUs shortly after the nations were united. Also, these past months that came by since they had married were spent improving the new connection from Planeptune and Lastation. Since they were now one, the people greatly wanted to improve transportation methods to make it feel like they were a united nation.

One of the many ways that Noire and Neptune had done was build a strong train station pathway that connected Planeptune and Lastation regardless of all the free land that was in between. There are also works into expanding each former nation's area with the other nation's technology and architecture. The good thing with this train way was that Vert and Blanc also helped out with this since, ever since Lowee and Leanbox had merged into Boxwee, they had also built a train way that connected with Noire and Neptune's connections so that it looked like a crossroads but for trains in the dead center of the four nations. It proved to be somewhat difficult in the beginning when Noire and Neptune's railroad connections resided close to the ocean, but Vert and Blanc had a harder time as their railroad connections cut through Lowee mountains and Leanbox waters.

"Old Lastation… feels weird to say it since it hasn't even been a year since we merged our nations," said Noire with a smile on her face regardless. She felt extremely happy that her people were so supportive and adaptable to change that she felt it was only right to change the name of the district that the Basilicom was located into Old Lastation. The same was also made for Planeptune which was now called Old Planeptune.

"We have to thank our nation for that, Noire. It felt hard to transition into a new name for our nations and streets, but we created something better with the ideas and values that we both share," said Purple Heart.

"Noire! Neptune!" There came a loud yell that pulled them back into reality as their little sisters, Uni and Nepgear came into view all bundled up in their winter gear.

"You two finally made it!" Said Nepgear with a smile.

"Why did you two take so long, and why did you take the train?" Said Uni.

"Hey, Neptune, why are you in HDD?" Said Nepgear.

The married CPU couple felt assaulted with so many questions. To break the ice, Histoire floated between them with a smile on her face as she presented the box that contained the wonderful smell of pie. First things first, we brought you two some dessert for later," she said giving the pie to Nepgear who still looked clueless on why her sister was in her HDD.

"Thanks, Histoire," said Nepgear who couldn't help but take a whiff of it and smiled dreamily.

Purple Heart then coughed shyly trying to find her voice to respond to her little sister's original question. "N-Nepgear, I can understand the confusion here, and we promise that we will explain it all, but can we go someplace warmer to talk?" Said Purple Heart with a shy and kind face.

"You two, it's for the best that we do that since what we have to tell you will leave you kind of speechless. I know that it left us that way," said Noire.

"How about we all go for some lunch before starting the holiday cheer?" Said Histoire.

"Yes, it would give us the time to talk, and we have some really good news," said Noire while at the same time holding onto Purple Heart's hand to show her some support.

Since they were pressed for time, they decided to have some lunch at the local mall nearby since this was one of the areas that Uni and Nepgear wanted to visit. Histoire had been kind enough to take the pie, and their bags back to Nepgear and Uni's Basilicom so that they didn't have to make a detour. Poor Histoire because when she left, she was floating a little lower than usual with all the added weight that she was carrying.

Histoire made impressive time for when she got back to them, they were just about to head inside the mall. Their first stop was the food court, and they split up for a few minutes as they went to different restaurant fronts to get their food.

Once they were ready, Noire and Neptune found a table near a window that gave them plenty of room for privacy from all the other people. It was hard enough that Uni and Nepgear were making odd glances at Neptune for being in her HDD, but alas, it turns out that the random shoppers were also looking at their goddess with odd faces. It wasn't a bad thing, more like curiosity.

"How are you holding up, Neptune?" Said Histoire who had ordered a small box of chili fries with a small soda.

"I'm not sure, I do feel a little tired now," said Purple Heart as she sat down on one of the chairs. Noire was the one that was carrying their food which was two sandwich subs. She placed one next to Purple Heart who thanked her, but as she looked at the food, her stomach was protesting this offering.

"Here they come," said Noire as she acted naturally with taking a bite out of her sandwich.

Uni and Nepgear came to sit with them with each having two slices of pizza and fries. "This is nice, we haven't had anything to eat yet since Uni and I have been cooking all day," said Nepgear with a smile.

This caused Uni to choke on her food as she looked at Nepgear with shock. "Hey, that was supposed to be a secret for later," she said tiredly.

"Ah, I'm sorry, that slipped out, Uni," said Nepgear feeling bad now.

"Huh, so you are cooking? I figured that we would have taken take-out or something," said Noire who was actually impressed with her little sister considering that they're the host for this Nepmas feast.

"Y-Yeah, Noire. I said that I would be the one to deliver the food this year. I'm slowly bettering myself, and I was able to prove to you that I could run this part of Nepstation perfectly fine, and I'm going to show you how far my cooking skills have gone," said Uni with a wink.

"Well, if it's anything like how you managed to keep our old nation, then I bet that food is really going to be something great," said Noire which made Uni blush.

"Color me interested Uni because if anyone one can compete with Noire's cooking skills then it's you," said Purple Heart.

Uni gave her an embarrassed smile since it was rare to get praise from Neptune in her HDD.

Nepgear was the only one that was looking at her sister very worriedly. "Neptune, are you finally going to tell us why is it that you're in HDD?"

Purple Heart grew timid from the golden answer that was yearning to be told. She then felt her wife's loving hand on her shoulder. "Let me explain it," she said sweetly which made Purple Heart smile softly. Noire then cleared her throat. "Please, before we tell you, don't yell and do try to keep the noise to a minimum," said Noire who looked at the window to give herself a few seconds to compose herself.

"O-Okay," they both said as they got ready to hear what Noire had to say.

"Neptune is in HDD because she is pregnant with our child."

Both Uni and Nepgear's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets that they had to cough to release all the build-up of air that they had. "W-What!" they both shouted that caused many people to annoyingly turn around to look at them since they were disturbing the peace.

"I said to stifle your voice," said Noire with grumpy eyes.

"B-But… b-but… how is this possible?" Said Nepgear with wide eyes.

"Well, last night… we… look, that part doesn't need to be explained. We had a sweet moment…"

"More like several," said Histoire as she took a sip of her drink which earned her a "are you kidding me?" look from Noire.

"WE HAD A SWEET MOMENT that was fueled by an enormous amount of share energy after we generated a lot of happiness from the people when we helped during this charity event that helped families cover expenses for baby products. When we got home, our minds were filled with all the joy from helping them out that we, unintentionally, dreamed about a baby of our own. Since we had overflowing shares, the idea of a baby in our minds, and the… passion we had for one another had made the share energy grant our wish," said Noire who looked ready to jump into the snow outside to cool her face off.

"So, this is something that you both wanted?" said Uni.

"Yes, Uni. While the thought of a little one terrifies me, she is my little girl that I wished for in some level with Neptune."

"S-She? You know that it will be a girl?" Said Uni.

"Croire pretty much confirmed it since, in other dimensions, CPUs have been known to have only girls, which makes sense since they will rule the nation one day," said Noire.

"What about you, Neptune?" Said Nepgear.

"There is a life that is growing inside me, how can I not love that? She is the proof of the eternal love that Noire and I share for each other. Exceeding a joined console and exceeding a joined nation. This is what lays past our marriage, and I cannot see this to be a bad thing in any way, Nepgear, " said Purple Heart.

"T-This… is all too unreal," said Nepgear.

"I understand that, Nepgear. Soon, Noire and I will be parents, and you and Uni will be aunts."

"That… sounds wonderful," said Nepgear who could do nothing but dream off into far-off skies that showed her being like an older role model to someone else that was younger than her.

Uni was also in that state as she envisioned a little one calling her big sister in an ironic sense. "Oh, Noire, If there is anything that we can do to help just let us know. She's going to be family after all," said Uni with a smile.

"We really appreciate that, Uni," said Purple Heart.

The rest of the meal was spent with smiles and laughter that was just what the soon to be parents needed.

At that point, Purple Heart and Noire spent a couple of hours at the mall with Uni and Nepgear leaving for a bit with Histoire tagging along. They ended up saying that they needed to pick up some special items that they had on reserve. Noire and Purple Heart didn't object because they knew that it probably had something to do with gifts. Luckily for them, they already had gifts for their little sisters, and gifts for each other, but the other didn't know that.

What they ended up doing for that time was going to a clothing store. "What are we doing here, Noire?" said Purple Heart.

"We are going to pick you out some clothes to wear. You are going to be in HDD for about nine months, and you obviously grow out of your clothes while in HDD." Noire couldn't help but once again be sad at the idea that she wasn't going to have her bubbly Neptune for nine months, but she hated to think that since the woman standing in front of her was her bubbly Neptune, just… significantly more mature.

Purple Heart could sense that there was some trouble plaguing Noire, so she went up to her with a smile. "Oh, honey. The amount that you look out for me is too much to describe," she said happily.

"You're my wife, Neptune. It's you and me… forever, right?"

"Forever and a half, my darling. Plus, if we can't find anything, I could always use your clothes," she said sweetly as she got close to her for a hug.

"What? You're making jokes now? I thought I was dealing with Purple Heart herself?" Said Noire who grew into the habit of laughing at the joke. It did surprise her to see Neptune do that while she was in her HDD.

She then felt the warm hands of her wife on her cheeks as she was forced to look into her eyes. "Noire, I might act differently in my HDD compared to my base form, but my personality is still all there. I love the same things, I think the same way, and I even love the same people."

"Neptune…?"

"I might act differently, but everything that defines me is still there, I just have a different way of showing it,"

"I… I know that, Neptune."

Purple Heart let go of her wife and raised a hand into the air. "Now, lets… Nep this store for all its worth," said Purple Heart who looked unenthusiastically and felt like those words were really forced out.

This caused Noire to giggle. "Please, don't push yourself. I get it, you're more mature, mellow, and very proper while in that form. Just be yourself," said Noire.

"I always am with you by my side, Noire."

"Hmm, hey, here's a thought." She then transformed into her HDD with her winter outfit still active. Once the particles of light had vanished, Black Heart was staring at Purple Heart at eye level.

"Noire?"

"What? You think I'm going to let you have all the HDD time? I may be burning myself needlessly, but what are a few hours in this form going to do?" Said Black Heart.

"Well, I do love that powerful confidence that your radiate, honey," said Purple Heart who gave her wife a short, but satisfying kiss.

"Not only that but now I don't feel so short when we kiss," said Black Heart with a smirk. She hadn't put too much thought in the height difference when she was in her human form, but now it was clearly noticeable.

"I guess you finally know my pain, Noire. I do power through it when you're a head taller than me that I have to tiptoe for a kiss," laughed Purple Heart.

"It's not my fault you're naturally short," said Black Heart which earned her another laugh from her wife.

"Come, let's see the clothes before Uni and Nepgear come back," said Purple Heart.

They spent some time there when they finally managed to acquire enough outfits for the time being. As they walked out of the store, they spotted Uni, Nepgear, and Histoire who were practically overflowing with bags of their own.

"Nepgear, it looks like you two didn't waste any time," said Purple Heart.

"Goodness, I know, but today is a special day where you two are staying over at our Basilicom for the first time," said Nepgear with a smile.

"Yeah, it's not every day that we have guest over and I want to show you the way we decorated the Basilicom, Noire," said Uni.

"We can hardly wait," said Black Heart.

"Now that you mentioned that. Uni, what time did we put the turkey in the oven?" Said Nepgear.

"It won't be ready for a few more hours, we can actually kill a little more time."

"Then what do you prefer we do?" Said Black Heart.

"How about we go ice skating? They have an indoor arena here," said Uni.

"Skating! Neptune and I have never done that before," said Black Heart.

"It's been one of the things that Nepgear and I do on our time off from work," said Uni with a sparkle in her eyes.

"It… does sound enjoyable, Noire," said Purple Heart who was up for a new experience.

Black Heart didn't object to the idea as she stood silently with a small smile on her face at the prospect of a new experience that she hoped wouldn't hurt.

Shortly after that, they tied on their skates that they rented from the local shop as they looked at the icy arena that was in front of them.

"Let's do a few laps, Nepgear," said Uni who glided across the ice with ease. Nepgear nodded at her and matched her grace as they joined hands together to form a skilled pair.

Black Heart took one step on the ice and immediately regretted it when she felt the lack of friction that caused her to fall on her bottom. "Darn, I was afraid of this," grunted Black Heart.

Purple Heart was a whole lot smarter as she used the edges of the arena to keep her balance. She proceeded to let go allowing herself a small push with knees bent as she glided slowly to her wife. "Please be more careful, honey," said Purple Heart who extended her hand out for her wife.

Black Heart scoffed playfully and reached out for the hand. When she did, the lack of friction caused Purple Heart to fall on top of her wife. The air was then filled with Purple Heart's mature and rich laugh that would have melted the surface if they were doing this in some pond.

"Yep, a terrible idea," said Black Heart who couldn't help but also smile as she laid underneath her wife.

Uni and Nepgear dashed towards them. "Goodness, are you two okay?"

"Yeah, that was some fall," said Uni.

The married couple just looked at their little sisters with a sigh and a puff of air that expressed how tired they felt, but among all that, they were having fun. The events that followed were all four of them in a chain that they formed with their hands as Uni and Nepgear organized their patterns. Once it was all ironed out, they found themselves being able to enjoy the experience thanks to their little sisters that were helping them stay standing. Even Histoire had a good time as her book was used as a platform to slide herself across the ice.

It was not an hour later when they left the arena to get ready to head out. "Nepgear, thank you for the wonderful time today," said Purple Heart with a smile.

"It was nothing, sister. It was really fun skating together as a group, right Uni?"

"Yeah, and don't be too down, Noire. It took about a week for Nepgear and I to get it down perfectly," said Uni who was loving the fact that she had something that she was better at than her sister.

"I'm not too down, Uni. You caught me when my green was showing, but soon, I will also perfect skating… along with my loving wife. By then, we will surely give you both a challenge," said Black Heart with her trademark smirk that made her wife lovingly rest her head on her shoulder.

They were about to reach the end of the mall and head outside when Black Heart stopped her walking that caused the others to also stop.

"What's wrong, big sis?" said Uni.

Black Heart had stopped because she gazed at an object that had peaked her interests. "You all can go, I'll catch up really quick," said Black Heart.

"Noire, what's the matter?" Said Purple Heart.

"It's nothing, I just need to… go to the bathroom really quick, so just go on without me," said Black Heart. She had been making glances at the object that was in the window near a store, and the only one who made the connection was Histoire who was floating above them.

"I'm sure that Noire will catch up, and in the meantime, we can call a taxi to not waste any more time to get back to the Basilicom," said Histoire.

"That does make sense. Oh, just don't take too long. I think the turkey is almost ready to be taken out, plus we got all these bags that need to be taken home, too." said Uni.

Black Heart gave her sister an understanding nod, and a silent thank you to Histoire. When they were finally far away, Black Heart dashed to the store which turned out to be a bookstore as she grabbed that one book that had attracted her attention.

Just as she promised, she didn't take that long to get back to them as they just received a taxi.

"Whew, guess I made it in time," said Black Heart who had hidden the book in a pocket that was inside her jacket. She gave her wife a kiss to try and distract the odd look that Purple Heart gave her which succeeded perfectly as they all got in with none of them the wiser, except for Histoire.

The ride wasn't too long for them as they reached the Basilicom. The first thing that Uni did when she opened the door was to run up to the stove to check on the turkey that was still being cooked.

Black Heart and Purple Heart moved all their bags including the ones that Histoire had brought up here earlier to Noire's old room that was left untouched by Uni. They placed all the bags of clothes and the bags that had the gifts on the bed as they let out a sigh.

Black Heart dropped onto the bed as she let her muscles relax. It wasn't the walking around that made her tired, but the fact that she was still in HDD.

Purple Heart soon joined her as she dropped next to her wife as they both stared at the ceiling. "Today sure has been fun," said Black Heart.

"It was, and It's only going to get better, Noire." She lifted herself from the bed and started to rummage through the bags that she had bought that day. She found a nice blue shirt with some black pants. "I'm going to take a shower, Noire. Would you like to join me? I always do have trouble with my back," said Purple Heart with a suggestive smile on her face.

Black Heart all of a sudden found the energy to get back up as she tried to force words out of her mouth. "Ah… If you do need help, then I would gladly help if I must," said Black Heart who was trying to suppress her blush. In truth, they had never taken a shower together, and she could see that Purple Heart was trying to be romantic.

"If you must? You speak so harshly about the topic when I can clearly see it from the color of your cheeks. Don't you want to recreate the magic of last night?" Said Purple Heart who had walked up to Black Heart with an air of flirtatious intent in her voice.

"I… I… hmph, I don't think we can clearly recreate what happened last night completely," said Black Heart trying to gain her foot back in the conversation with some funny logic.

"Hmm, maybe not the miracle, but the fun parts are still there to make again," said Purple Heart as she moved her hands down to her wife's breasts, and a little further down until she felt something hard. Purple Heart tilted her head. "Noire, I feel something hard. Is that… a box?"

Black Heart moved away quickly with a nervous laugh. "T-That?! It's nothing! Just some candy that I bought when you weren't looking. With speedy fingers, she removed her jacket and placed it on the bed to remove the problem out of sight. "About that shower, sorry for sounding harsh. I would love to try and recreate that night," said Black Heart who managed to distract her wife form the mysterious item she had in her jacket.

They then took a long and refreshing shower together that made them lose all sense of time.

Some time carried on to the point that it was now dark outside. In the kitchen, Uni had pulled out the turkey from the oven that was roasted to perfection. "Oh, put in on this side, Uni," said Nepgear as she made room for it on the living room table that had other food like potatoes, bread, macaroni, gravy, asparagus, and much more. It was truly a shmorgishborg of delights.

"Hehe… Uni, you think this is enough food already?" Said Nepgear with unease.

"This is perfect, Nepgear. Plus, isn't Neptune eating for two now?" Said Uni with a wink.

"Umm, I think it's too soon to speak like that since she just got pregnant," said Nepgear.

Histoire then came from the kitchen holding the cherry pie that they had brought. "So, where am I putting this pie at?"

"You can put it next to the carrot cake, and pudding… and the chocolate chip cookies," said Uni who was pointing at the spot only to lower her hand down from realizing that they had too much dessert.

"Oh, maybe we shouldn't have gotten dessert after all," said Historie who had her eye twitching from being unable to believe that Uni and Nepgear cooked all of this. Nepgear didn't say anything, but she gave Uni an "I told you," look.

"Hey, it's better to have food and not need it, then to not have food and need it," replied Uni.

"That just sounds wasteful," said Histoire to herself.

Before Uni could get into another rant about defending her food practices, Black Heart and Purple Heart entered the living room with a set of new outfits on them.

"Hey, you came just in time. The food is about to be served," said Nepgear.

"I can smell the wonderful aroma from over here," said Black Heart which made Uni secretly jump for joy.

Eventually, they all settled at the table with Purple Heart and Black Heart on one side, and Uni and Nepgear being at the other with Histoire taking the front of the table. "Okay, who wants to cut the turkey?" Said Histoire with an excited voice.

"I do!" Shouted Both Uni and Black Heart at the ready. They looked at each other for a few seconds feeling silly.

"You can do it, Noire," said Uni kindly.

"No, no, no, Uni, you should do it. You did cook it and everything," said Black Heart.

"I insist, Noire. Besides, It will give you some first-hand proof how juicy I made it," said Uni with a smirk.

Black Heart could respect the determination that Uni had, and agreed to be the one carving the turkey. Black Heart picked up the fork and knife and began to do elegant and equal slices across the bird. Just as she was getting her fifth slice, her hand had greatly trembled out of nowhere causing the knife to make a horrible misshapen slice.

"Noire, what's wrong?" Said Uni as her sister looked at her trembling hand.

"It's nothing, my hand must have slipped that's all." She moved her fingers around until the weird numbing sensation went away. After that, she finished up the slices as if nothing had happened. Over the course of the dinner, Purple Heart didn't eat that much even after Uni was offering her seconds and a plate of dessert.

Black Heart, on the other hand, had already had three plates along with dessert. Part of her was starting to feel weak that the food was actually a nice balance to keep her stamina up.

A little while after that, they all rested on their chairs feeling more stuffed than the turkey was. "Uni, the food was great, but there's always room for improvement," said Black Heart as she cleaned her face with a napkin.

"Overall, I think she did an amazing job," said Purple Heart. She only wished she had a better appetite. The food was soon all consumed, well, as best as it could with the level of food that Uni and Nepgear made.

"Well, I think it's time we opened up some gifts," said Uni with excitement.

"Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow morning?" Said Purple Heart.

"Nothing wrong with opening a few gifts," said Nepgear.

"Hmm, then Noire and I need to get our gifts from the bags then," said Purple Heart. They went to their room to grab the gifts and raced back to the living room. From that point, they placed them underneath the tree that was covered in a shower of ornaments composed of gold and silver.

"Neptune, I have one for you that I would like you to open," said Nepgear. She handed her a present that was wrapped in blue paper that had a thin rectangular shape. Purple Heart removed the paper with delicate movements that left the wrapping intact instead of a standard tear. Once it was all removed, her eyes widened when she saw the title that turned out to be a book. "The adventures of Tarimi Susan and her sidekick Clootia!" Shouted Purple Heart with excitement.

"No way, really?" Said Black Heart who looked happy to see it given that the last book had made her wife happy.

"Yeah, it's the newest edition that just came out," said Nepgear with a smile.

Purple Heart hugged the book. "I know, I was so down when I wasn't able to cease an available copy at the time."

"I know that you really loved that comic, especially when you told me all about the last one in great detail," said Nepgear.

"Yes, Tarimi Susan and the harbinger tower of dark chocolate. That one was actually the first, and this is the second. From how it ended in the last book, she destroyed the dark tower of chocolate but ended up sending it back to its original world in ruin with her, sadly, still in it. Now, she's in Dessertia trying to stop the evil queen Sepia, the ruler of dark chocolate. She was the one that brought the tower in the first place, and her goal is to turn all of Dessertia into a bittersweet wasteland," said Purple Heart with a shine in her eyes.

"Sounds very neat," said Uni with interest.

"Very much so. I hope that they keep her in this dessert-like world. She fits right in, and she ended up making a friend named Clootia and has also established that the world of sweets doesn't have all bad people, just that everyone is in despair because of the influence of that queen Sepia. I so love her sidekick, Clootia since her name is a reference to Clootie, a type of pudding that is large and steamed in a sort of dumpling shape. I had some once and it was amazing."

"Well, I'm happy you like it, and it left me wondering if you would like it with your HDD in effect," said Nepgear with a small smile.

"My tastes don't change, Nepgear. Although, I would have most likely had jumped at you in joy," said Purple Heart with a laugh.

"I hope you like mine," said Black Heart. She handed her a small wrapped box with red ribbons. Purple Heart made quick work of the paper as she set it aside to her right hand to show the object to her eyes. "You got me an RPG game," said Neptune as she looked at the game cover.

"Yeah, it's one of the last Lastation games that are up in the line up of upcoming games before we transition to the joined console," said Black Heart.

"I can hardly wait, although, I do feel bad that we're forcing the gamers of Gamindustri to upgrade to a newer one if they want the latest games," said Purple Heart while opening the box to peek inside.

"It's half and half, really. We let our consoles run their lifespan for a few more months when we gave them the heads up, and people were starting to ask when we would combine our hardware," said Black Heart.

"So it seems. You think we'll make the deadline for our new console reveal by next month?" Asked Purple Heart.

"That is still part of the plan, but the people will have more news by then," said Black Heart who rubbed her wife's belly.

Through the course of the gifts, the rest of the CPUs got one present that they could open early with Uni getting a gift that had two in there with the main one being a cute black and gray shoulder bag, and a cute necklace that had a revolver design on it.

Nepgear got a set of toy robots that were needed for her collection. And Histoire got a coffee mug with a reading light that attaches to the book cover or desk for reading at nights.

This Nepmas night was indeed wonderful as holiday music filled the air as Purple Heart and Black Heart watched the ones they loved with big bright smiles on their faces. Purple Heart moved her free hand that wasn't holding her wife, to pull a gift out from underneath the pillow couch. "Noire, Happy Nepmas to you, my loving wife," said Purple Heart when she presented the gift to her wife.

"Neptune…" Black Heart opened the gift, and her heart stopped when she saw what was inside. Inside were two necklaces that joined together with the shape of a broken heart that was split in two. On one side, it was purple, and on the other, it was black. Without any words, Purple Heart took the black piece.

"This one is mine, and that one is yours. I know that it feels like a half gift, literally, but there are more gifts with your name on it," said Purple Heart with a smile.

"I… I love it, Neptune." Black Heart reached for it but her eyes grew blurry as her head started to hurt.

"Noire? Are you okay?" Asked Purple Heart.

"Y-Yeah, just a little light-headed," said Black Heart. There was noticeable sweat coming from her forehead making her wife worry.

"Don't you think it's time for you to get out of HDD?" Said Purple Heart with a stern attitude knowing that this look was needed to get through to her wife.

Black Heart could do nothing but give her a shy look. "I'm fine, really."

"No, you're not. Noire, I love how supportive you are, but it's okay to relax. Besides, you're burning through our shares, shares that our baby girl could be using," said Purple Heart.

Black Heart swallowed hard at realizing this. "Crap, I… didn't think about that." She let out a deep breath as her HDD went away leaving Noire looking very tired as she rested on her wife's shoulder.

"Nepgear, could you get Noire some cookies and juice?"

"Sure thing," said Nepgear as she dashed to the kitchen.

Noire groaned from this. "Jeez, I'm the one who is supposed to be taking care of you."

"We take care of each other, Noire," said Purple Heart lovingly. She then showed her side of the broken heart waiting for Noire to do the same. They then connected them together with a small giggle that came from both of them.

Histoire then came up to them as she raised a mistletoe above them. "Oh my, you two are underneath the mistletoe. Looks like you need to kiss then," said Histoire.

The married couple didn't object as they connected their lips.

Hours later and long deep into the night when Santa would be making his rounds, Noire and Purple Heart laid on their bed. Purple Heart was already fast asleep with her comic book of Tarami Susan opened up and resting next to her.

Noire was still awake. Even though she felt extremely tired, she found sleep to be rather elusive. She then looked at her discarded jacket that was resting on a chair and lifted herself from the bed. When she came back to the bed, she had a book that had a title that read, "So… going to be a father?" The book's title was obviously geared towards married men that would soon have a kid, and it was made to help them prepare for that as well as help their wife throughout the journey of pregnancy. Regardless of all that, she found the book to perfectly help her grasp the things she needed to learn fast. She opened the book and began to read.

 **Such a most wonderful time of the year! There you have it, this chapter is the introduction of the nine chapter story of Nine Versions of Purple. I was debating if I should make the first chapter Christmas related also, but I'm actually happy that I did. This one kind of wrote itself, and I just had to do two birds with one stone. Time to explain how this story will go. This story will be nine chapters with each chapter being a somewhat one shot that connects with the other chapters meaning that I will go month to month with each chapter until we get to the big nine! My main goal is to focus on Noire and Neptune as they struggle with the challenge of motherhood, but I will like feedback from you all if you want me to add something interesting to the mix from all the ideas that I have cooking. I find this story to be a challenge for me which I'm up for it since it's core idea is clear and grounded that I want to make it feel real. I wish you all a happy holiday and I'll see everyone in the next chapter.**


	2. Growing Pains

**Chapter 2: Growing Pains**

It has been a month since Nepmas had come and gone, and the workflow of Nepstation, like a well-oiled machine, resumed.

Noire, in the Basilicom, was located in a hub room of activity that had several Nepstation workers scurrying around to various screens of information.

"We just confirmed that batch number 243 of console X has just left the manufacturing phase," said a worker to Noire who was at the center.

"Great, what else?" She said.

"With those done, we now have full storage units to make it for the first wave of console purchases for next week," said another worker.

"Then… it's all come together," said Noire with a relaxing breath. She had been working non-stop trying to get these consoles to the market on the day that she and Neptune promised, and she was aware the new month was ending quick, but they would technically still be revealing it this month even if it fell close to the end of the month.

"Umm, my lady, we still need to verify the name of the console," said another worker with a worried voice.

"The name?" Noire looked away in anger, mostly directed to herself from her inability to come up with one.

The worker from before cleared her voice and picked up a datapad to show to her goddess. "My lady, we all know that things have been busy with the pregnancy of our Lady Neptune, but we still have until next week to roll out the consoles into the market," said the worker with a kind smile.

Noire didn't feel any more relaxed from those words and politely lowered the datapad away from her eyes. "Jeez, we got all the hard work out of the way that I completely forgot about the name!"

Everyone looked at their goddess for verification to the name since it was the only thing missing. The immediate eyes of various workers, collectively, were burning holes into Noire's skull, figuratively, as Noire grew rising anxiety in herself. "I… I… don't have the answer!" She shouted on impulse.

Histoire, who was in the back, came up to Noire and directed her attention at the workers. "Everyone, we've made excellent work here. Nepstation's new console will soon be out with the beginning of our new games soon to launch. Take the rest of the day off to spend time with your loved ones, with your family as a celebration to how close we are to the future of Nepstation."

Those words had caused Noire to look down in confliction not just for her lack of naming, but at the family part that she felt had resonated with her in a bad way.

Once everyone had left, Histoire turned her attention to Noire. "It's okay to be indecisive about the name. We still have time and once you and Neptune sit down, you'll find out the perfect one," said Histoire with a smile. She only received a sad comforting smile from Noire that made her think. "But there's more to this feeling you have, isn't there?"

"I don't want to lie to you, Histoire, so… Neptune and I have been budding heads recently," said Noire.

"What are you two arguing about?"

"It's just… I want her to take it easy while she is pregnant, but she won't listen to me. She's trying to uphold her part of the work, and it's been getting stressful on that department," said Noire.

"Hmm, that is a problem. Neptune in her HDD has always been known to be the reliable one in any situation, and it would be difficult for her to hang back and do nothing," said Histoire.

"Yeah, tell me about it," said Noire with a sigh. Her phone then rang that had Uni's name on it when she looked at the number. "Uni, what's up?" Said Noire as she walked to the nearest window to get some light from being cooped up all morning in here.

"Noire, sorry to bother you with you being busy on your end to get our new console out, but we have a slight problem on our end," said Uni who sounded sad and ashamed.

"What's wrong?"

"Some old fashion business head from that popular store company wants us to give them early access to selling the new consoles before all the other rival stores do," said Uni.

"What!? That's greedy and downright slimy!" Shouted Noire.

"I know sister, but their company is one of the largest and most popular amongst gamers, which would be bad if they refuse to stock our consoles indefinitely," said Uni.

"Well… well… it's their loss if they won't be making any money from selling Nepstation's first console!"

"Would it really be? We won't be able to maximize our profit that was predicted if they do that," said Uni with worry.

"Hmm, strike a deal with them, but try to hold back on giving them days. I refuse to cripple the other business partners because of this," said Noire.

"They actually don't want me. Remember when I said they were old fashion? Well, they want to do the deal with you," said Uni who sounded useless by her definition for being unable to do this herself.

"Me?! Ugh, those bigwigs," said Noire with anger.

"They said that the deal would be best with you or your wife."

"I'll call them later, just let them know that, okay?" Said Noire.

"Yeah, I'll do that," said Uni. The call ended which made Noire crack her neck and close her eyes to try and capture some semblance of peace from her stressed out day.

"That call sounded very serious," said Histoire.

Noire turned around and brushed her hand through her hair. "It's going to sort itself out later. In the meantime, I'm going back home to check up on Neptune and get something to eat," said Noire.

Histoire nodded and made her way out of the room to go do other things that she had to do.

After a few minutes when Histoire had left, Noire also made her way out of the room with a book in hand. She used her private elevator while she read some of the contents from the book she bought a month back. "In the second month, your wife is going to be experiencing some changes. The first thing you need to know is that this isn't your wife's fault in any way. She will be experiencing intense vomiting and nausea more frequent than the first month if she had any at the time. Food sensitivity is also going to be another recurring case with her being picky with types of food. The fatigue will not subside during this point, so it's good for her to get plenty of rest. Along with the rest, it is recommended that she also starts to eat healthier for the sake of the baby. Try to also eat the same foods as her to give her that mental support, so she doesn't feel alienated. And the two important ones and these go hand and hand with what was said earlier about it isn't her fault. She will be experiencing moody behavior that is common during the pregnancy, and the other one will be…"

Noire was cut off from reading the last one when the doors to the elevators opened up. She made her way to the housing unit. One of the first things that Noire felt off placed was that it was too quiet. "Neptune? Are you home?" Shouted Noire into the empty living room with her voice reaching the halls, and kitchen. To her discomfort, there was no reply. Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on the coffee table that had a bunch of documents spread out in a messy pile. "What's this?" she said when she lifted one up to read it. "These are authorization forms for Nepstation work, Neptune," she said the last part with agitation from the fact that Neptune wasn't taking her advice to relax.

A sound was then heard from the hallway that made Noire pace herself to the source of the noise. It took her to her bedroom door, and the sound was then louder as it told her that it was coming from the bathroom. Her footsteps made no noise that helped her approached the door to hear intense vomiting. She slightly opened the door to see inside, and it wasn't a shock to see Purple Heart hunched over on her knees at the toilet.

Noire's eyes grew soft with worry as she was about to enter to make her presence known when she noticed that Purple Heart had a phone resting on the sink counter. Purple Heart then flushed the toilet and leaned on the cabinet doors that were underneath the sink. Her eyes were closed, and she looked pale with some sweat on her face. A deep inhalation was heard when she picked up the phone to hit a button that unmuted her side of the line. "I apologize for my departure, but as we were saying before, your company will not get Nepstation's new console one week before the others do." There seemed to be intense chatter on the other line that made Purple Heart remove the phone a few inches away from her ear.

"That is unacceptable. And I don't believe that without our partnership, we will be the ones to suffer. Sure, you might be the best and popular place that gamers buy products from, but at the end of the day, we are the ones that will be launching the consoles and our console will speak for itself; it is, after all, a new piece of hardware that is highly anticipated."

The chatter continued on the other end that made Purple Heart narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Your words are empty, here, let me paint you a different perspective. We put you out of the list of retailers, and the gaming population is going to wonder why their go-to shop doesn't have our console. That's going to paint a bad image in their head about you guys. I mean, the other retailers will simply have more supply that the gamers will just have to go over there," said Purple Heart.

The chatter had died down, and it sounded like the person on the other line was singing a different tune. "I'm aware that you're a good source of income but the launch of a console is greatly more important than that. The good faith of the people to have options where to buy it will go a long way than ditching the other partners and forcing them to buy them from you on day one." The chatter on the other line continued.

"And you're the one who is making a mistake. Your headquarters might have been stationed in Lastation, but all of this is Nepstation now, and your shops over here will be the first ones to dry out on new products of ours, especially, the new console coming out," said Purple Heart.

There was more chatter that came out, but after that, Purple Heart smiled softly. "Sure, we will both lose a lot, but we can afford a small blow, but what about you guys? There are plenty of more other retailers that are itching to be in the limelight, and once the gamers find out that you were trying to strong arm the goddesses, then your credibility will start to drop."

The chatter was now soft, and one could only tell that it sounded apologetic. "Then we are in an agreement? The same day, just as everyone else? Great, and also tell your business partners as well that tossing their power around me won't get them anywhere, and feel free to record this call to get a clearer picture, I know that I did, just in case." She then hung up with a deep breath being let out along with a big smile of satisfaction.

"Neptune, what did you do?" Called out Noire from the door that made Purple Heart jump slightly.

Purple Heart had a moody look on her face from seeing her wife. "I'm doing my job, something that you can't seem to let me do," she said with venom.

Noire had no response from that as her heart felt heavy from Purple Heart saying that. Purple Heart soon felt her heart wavering as she looked away in shame. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that," she said sadly.

"You know why I don't let you," said Noire. She crouched down to inspect her wife's face that had sweat on it. "That sounded like a heated conversation," she said sympathetically.

"Well, it had to be done. He's just some suit that thinks he's important to demand special treatment," said Purple Heart with anger in her voice.

"Have you eaten anything today?" Asked Noire who wanted to get to an important topic away from the anger that this problem had both caused them.

"Don't talk to me about that," declared Purple Heart.

"Neptune, I'm serious. You need to eat."

"Can you stop with that? I can't keep the food down, okay!?" Shouted Purple Heart.

"I get that, okay? We have an appointment anyway with the doctor to check on the baby. While we're there, we can ask them for some help with that," said Noire.

There was still some unfinished issues that were running wild in Purple Heart's mind, but when it came to the topic of the baby, those issues could wait for a later time.

Noire extended her hand out so that Purple Heart could get up from the cold hard floor, but her wife looked at the hand with distaste and lifted herself off the ground.

Noire didn't know what to feel about this rejection that made her feel empty inside. "She's really moody, just like the book said," sighed Noire. So much for changing the topic to a better one. She figured that she would be treading on eggshells for a while with her wife's moodiness.

With Histoire busy with other things, it fell in the hands of Noire to get them both ready as she called a taxi beforehand so that they didn't have to wait outside in the Basilicom. This was a strange experience for her since they were always used to flying from place to place if it was far. Although the hospital that they were going was somewhat close to the Basilicom, she didn't want Neptune to walk. There was also another issue that nobody knew that Purple Heart was pregnant, excluding the staff in the Basilicom that were sworn to keep it a secret, and a few hand-picked doctors that were stationed at the hospital that they were going. They did have plans to tell people a few weeks ago, but they couldn't find the time, or more like, Noire couldn't find the time with she taking charge of the work, and Purple Heart being put on bedrest for no reason, which would be something that Purple Heart would say.

Of course, this wouldn't be the case for long. Noire and Purple Heart knew that eventually, it's going to be hard to keep it a secret from the nation when Purple Heart starts showing more in the coming months. People were already starting to question why Lady Neptune hadn't been making any public appearances with Noire undertaking all of those.

They were now outside of the Basilicom waiting for the taxi that would take them to the hospital. Purple Heart had managed to clean up nicely with having different clothes on than before and fixing her hair. Now, her hair actually looked a lot different than usual. With it normally being tied up in two large braids that appeared to look like twin tails, her hair was naturally down cascading without any restrictions. This was a style that Purple Heart decided on after long weeks of having to maintain her usual style.

"Okay, Neptune, here they come," said Black Heart. Noire had transformed into Black Heart to not make it suspicious that Lady Neptune was in her HDD by herself while Noire wasn't. This also gave Noire more mental fortitude to deal with all the mental weight from the past weeks, and with them going to their first doctor's visit, she figured that it couldn't hurt.

They went into the taxi, which was thankfully a pleasant ride. The driver was curious that they were in HDD and going to the hospital, but all that Black Heart needed to say was that they were going to see a friend that was recovering.

About half an hour later, they were dropped off and they both went to go see the reception desk. With them having an already established appointment, and them being the goddesses of the nation, they were quickly admitted to a room without any wait time, which saved them odd glances from people in the waiting area to the left of them. They were now in a private area of the hospital inside a nice room with Purple Heart sitting on the patient's table with a gown on that was common during a check-up.

Purple Heart's leg started to shake uncontrollably along with her right fingers. "Noire, I… need to go to the bathroom," she said with embarrassment plastered on her face.

"You do? I thought that you went before we left," said Black Heart.

"Well, I need to go again," said Purple Heart with a rising tone that told Black Heart that she was not having any arguments about this with her. Just as Purple Heart got up from the table, a doctor with big glasses and blue hair had entered quietly with a shy and nervous aura around her. "Is this Lady Neptune's room?" She said while her eyes were buried in a clipboard. She quickly looked up to see that it was indeed Lady Neptune's room as Purple Heart went up to her without any warning.

"Where is the bathroom?" She said urgently.

"T-The bathroom? It's down the hall to the right. Why do you ask?" She quickly wished she could have done a redo on that last question with how stupid it sounded.

"Well, for obvious reasons that I can't hold it any longer," she said with a snappy attitude.

"R-Right, my bad, my Lady," said the timid doctor. Just as she was about to let Purple Heart pass, her doctor instincts kicked in as she grabbed a plastic cup from a drawer. "Umm, speaking of having to go, y-you m-might need this. I'm going to have to need a u-urine sample as part of the checkup. It's a good chance to cross that off, you know? The whole two birds and one stone kinda thing," she said nervously.

Purple Heart grunted but took the cup as she raced down to the bathroom. This left the doctor with Black Heart. "She seems really nice, my Lady. It's actually my first time seeing her in person," she said trying to make small talk.

"She doesn't normally act this way," said Black Heart with a sigh.

"Oh, I get it. The mood swings come with the baby package," said the doctor with a small laugh.

Black Heart couldn't help but laugh at how true that was. "Excuse me, how old are you?"

"Oh, um, old enough, but… still too young that I'm constantly asked that question. This is actually my first year here actually. My name is Dr. Lailah Cardian," she said with a humble smile while she adjusted her glasses.

"Cardian? Umm, when I placed an appointment they told me that we would be seeing a Dr. Alison Brier?" Said Black Heart.

"Dr. Brier? She's actually my mentor and was unable to make it to this appointment. She… umm… had family troubles that sprung up all of a sudden," she said.

"Then why were we not notified about this?" Asked Black Heart with mild anger.

"As I said, it was sudden, my lady. I'm more than qualified to do the check-up on your wife, and I have been sworn to secrecy about…" she covered one side of her mouth in the off chance that someone would hear, "… the baby," she said with too much drama for Black Heart's liking.

"I still feel betrayed about them sending someone random like you," said Black Heart with her arms crossed.

Dr. Cardian held onto the clipboard with a comedic crestfallen face. "I'm not really someone random, I'm Dr. Brier's pupil, and they already told me that if I betrayed Dr. Brier's trust and spilled the beans about this that I would be fired on the spot," she said with another nervous laugh.

"That's a little extreme," said Black Heart.

"It's totally understandable, and I have no plans on gossiping about this," she said.

At this time, Purple Heart had walked into the room holding a cup of liquid that made her have a red face. "Here, I did what you wanted of me," she said with a frown.

"Oh, umm, y-you could have actually left that in the restroom, there was a little… err, nevermind, I'll take it," said Dr. Cardian as she put on a glove and walked out of the room with it.

Purple Heart said nothing to her wife as she went back to the patient's table. They remained silent for a few minutes that made Black Heart inpatient about where the good doctor was. She could only imagine that she got turned around in her own work environment.

"Neptune, can we talk about what happened today?" Asked Black Heart finding that this needed to be addressed with how her wife would be acting in the coming weeks.

"I don't need to explain myself when it comes to me pulling my part of the work, Noire," she said with her moody attitude.

"And you didn't need to take up that meeting call with those bigwigs," said Black Heart.

"Stop treating me like I'm the baby here. That appointment was displayed on our joined email that we have- you remember that we have that, right? And it told me all about what they wanted to do with the console launch. After calling the Basilicom front desk, they put me through to them, so that I could bury this."

Noire was now starting to become annoyed at the bigwigs again from this new layer of news. From not only refusing to talk to Uni when she was busy but them also being persistent that they also sent an email about their rude demands that would have no doubt been found by her wife, what were the odds? "Okay, you're not a baby, but you're my wife, and the last thing I want to do is put stress on you during the pregnancy."

"That's the thing, it's what you want, well, we can ask the good doctor what she thinks when she gets back, honey," she said the last part with harsh intent.

As luck would have it, Dr. Cardian had just returned. "Sorry about the wait," she said in an exhausted breath. How about we get started with the prenatal check-up with an internal pelvic exam?" She said with a smile.

"P-Pelvic exam?" Said Purple Heart with a confused and nervous look.

"Yeah, it is… an unpleasant experience, but it needs to be done to check up on the condition of the baby. I'm going to administer some anesthesia just as soon as we get you onto the chair," said the good doctor as she pointed to her right to show that there was an odd looking chair with the top part pulled down, and weird leg restraints attached to them.

The time that soon followed had been a blur to Purple Heart. With the anesthesia, it felt hard for her to concentrate on what was going on, and the only things she could grasp in this state was that her wife looked incredibly red in the face, while she herself felt exposed and was able to feel the cold air much clearer.

"Whew, I think I'm like the first person to actually have the honor of having that much of a view, um… aside from you, my lady Black Heart," said the good doctor with a kind laugh.

Black Heart had been close to her wife holding her hand while she had her eyes closed in embarrassment during most of the procedure. "You sound very joyful about this," remarked Black Heart.

"Well, if you can't smile while you're working then it's probably not the right job for you. But I'm happy to report that your wife is doing fine. The baby is a little under one inch and has currently developed all the limbs like the hands and feet."

"Is that really true!?" Said Black Heart.

"Yeah, the brain is developing, and heart is beating, but no eyes yet. Also, I did a few tests that went along with this one, and everything looks alright. That isn't a surprise when my lovely patient is our devoted goddess," said the good doctor.

"The room is still spinning," said Purple Heart after she was allowed to be brought back into a seating position.

"That's just the anesthesia. I was actually wondering if it would actually work on you my lady with you being our goddess and all, but it looks like it should wear off in a few minutes," she said.

"So, I'm doing okay?"

"Yes, there's nothing to worry about, my lady. I do think that this is an appropriate time to start taking better care via your food choices, and it couldn't hurt your baby with staying away from any caffeine related drinks, and alcoholic ones,"

"Ugh, I'm not really a coffee drinker or the other, really. In fact, my wife, Noire is the one that drinks coffee most of the time," said Purple Heart.

"Hey, speaking of food and all that, my wife has actually had a hard time taking in food. She seems to vomit it up very often," said Black Heart.

"Hmm, that's quite a common thing for pregnant women, but it does vary with each person."

"It has become a big problem, and I'm worried that our baby isn't getting the nutrients that she needs," said Black Heart.

"Hmm, so it's really severe? Maybe it could be having a big impact on lady Neptune because she's a CPU- that would mean that she could also have bigger effects from other common problems related to pregnancy on a grander scale."

"Hey, you could be on to something there, doc," said Black Heart.

"My frequent visits to the bathroom and my nausea have been annoying me greatly, also I've been feeling rather angry than what I should feel, but I think that's because of other reasons," said Purple Heart who darted her eyes at her wife and it wasn't lost on either Dr. Cardian or Black Heart.

"I can give you some medicine… I mean, I am going to give you medicine that relates to the pregnancy, but I can also give you something that will ease that vomiting up, but the vomiting is just one of those messy things before the storm is done. Once your baby is born, you're going to feel that it was all worth it," said the good doctor with a smile.

"Thank you, Dr. Cardian, and I have one more question for you. Do you believe that I'm still able to undertake stressful work for the nation? My wife here has been rather controlling about my input on the work of Nepstation," said Purple Heart who saw her wife look at her with shock in her face.

"It sounds like lady Noire is really dedicated about the pregnancy process," she said with a smile at Black Heart.

"B-But, I'm still able to work, right?"

Dr. Cardian crossed her arms with a hard thinking expression. "Well… stress is always common in life, however, it is harmful if it's a consistent thing. You being pregnant will only increase that stress. I would recommend that you heed your wife's loving care because stress that is built up over time could cause the baby to be born earlier than intended, and it might be born underweight."

"I… I see," said Purple Heart who could not argue back with someone that had a medical field to back her up.

"Neptune…" Black Heart placed a hand on her wife's shoulder feeling horrible that her wife was denied what she wanted to do, regardless of that fact that she agreed with the doctor.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Dr. Cardian," said Purple Heart.

"I'm sorry that it wasn't what you wanted to hear, but it's best to be on the safe side. Besides, the vomiting will go away by itself, and you will have better experiences to come," said Dr. Cardian with a happy wink. The appointment was soon wrapped up after a few minor things like blood work being among those things. They soon took a taxi back to the Basilicom. During the ride, Black Heart put up a divider that separated the driver from them as she held onto her wife's hand who had been distant during the ride.

"Hey, I'm sorry that you were forced to hear it from her…"

"Noire, stop. You don't get it." She turned her head towards her wife with tears visible on her face. "It doesn't change anything because I still get stressed up just by seeing you tiring yourself out just by doing all the work by yourself. We're supposed to be a team, yet I'm forced to hardly see you most of the day, and when you do get back home- you're dead tired."

"I never saw it that way. I have been spending less time at home and all," said Black Heart who was ashamed at herself.

"It's pointless for me to relax," said Purple Heart.

Black Heart sighed deeply and nodded at her wife. "Okay, how about this, you can work on the small stuff that is the less stressful, as long as I'm here to help out if needed, but… after a few months, you need to seriously take it easy."

Purple Heart had a shine in her eyes that spoke her feelings to her wife, and all she did was a nod at her with the squeeze of the hand.

A few hours went by when they had reached the Basilicom. Since the core team was disbanded for the day, Noire was at home cooking something special for her wife that her trusty book had discussed.

Purple Heart had taken the medicine for the vomiting and nausea with the help of Noire who raced to a pharmacy with flight after they got back. With this, her stomach had been more merciful with her. She was watching television when an enigmatic smell had perforated into the air leaving an aroma that was nice, to say the least.

"Neptune! Dinner time!" Shouted Noire who held up two plates as she set them on the living room dinner table.

"What's that food?" Said Purple Heart.

Noire turned around to face her with a sparkle in her eyes. This is a recipe that I found called mushroom quinoa risotto! It's great food for pregnant women!"

"Really? I'm always down to try new things." Purple Heart sat on her chair and inspected the dish that had mushrooms scattered around with sliced onions, garlic, parmesan cheese, and parsley. "This doesn't have eggplant in it, right?" said her wife with comedic narrow eyes.

"Neptune… I would never do you like that in my life, it's good, so just try it," said her wife with a laugh.

They both sat down with a glass of soda on one hand and a fork on the other. Purple Heart took a bite from the food with a slow chew to savor the taste. Her eyes shot open with a delightful smile on her face. "Oh, wow, this is scrumptious," she said.

Black Heart took happiness in that as she took her own bite from the food that was her first time making this dish. There was soon a silence that started to befall them, but Black Heart figured that this was the perfect time to ask something that has been another constant thought in her mind. "Neptune, since we agreed that I would be fine with you working for a bit, I need to ask you on what your opinion is on the name of our new console that's going to be released next week."

Black Heart saw her wife put down the fork as she used her hands to rest her head while she gazed at the large window that was to her left that overlooked this part of the nation. She then smiled softly with her eyes appearing to look as if she was thinking about a fond memory. "This reminds me of that time we were having trouble with coming up with a name for our combined nations," she said sweetly.

A flashback soon manifested into both of their minds as they took a trip down memory lane.

 **(Flashback)**

Many months ago, about sometime later after they got married, Noire and Neptune laid on their backs in Neptune's office- or the office of their's now- while they looked at the ceiling fan that moved it's blades around in a rhythmic motion.

"My head neppin hurts," said Neptune who looked to be at the end of her rope with what they were thinking.

"It's your fault for being stubborn, Neptune," said Noire with equal exhaustion on her face.

This caused Neptune to sit up with a puff of her chest. "Says the wife of mine that is too stubborn to let the 'La' part of Lastation go," remarked Neptune.

Noire quickly jumped from the floor with a defensive laugh on her side. "Well, says the wife of mine that can't let the 'Plan' part of Planeptune go," she said with arms crossed.

"B-But… the 'Plan' part is an integral part of the name that is Planeptune, it even hides that fact that my nation's name is actually my name, but just with the 'Pla' part- and also The N letter cannot go, missy!"

"Hmm, I refuse to let the 'La' part go, as well. I like how it makes my nation sound very mysterious," said Noire.

"Pfft, yeah, it sounds like you're saying the last station," said Neptune with a chuckle.

This caused Noire to bite her lip to hold back herself from throttling her wife. "Then we reached an impasse! Oh, we're never going to agree on this," said Noire who went to a chair.

Neptune had her eyes closed with a hand underneath her chin giving herself another headache from overthinking this. She walked backward into a bookcase that had a heavy encyclopedia book about pudding, and it dropped on her head with a crash. "Nepu!" Cried Neptune who fell on the ground in a daze.

"Honey!" Shouted Noire who ran to her wife's aid and held her in her arms. "Hey, wake up, you clumsy ditz," she said with worry.

Neptune soon opened her eyes as she had visions of tiny Noires holding plates of pudding while they wore aprons and circled her head. "I got it!" Shouted Neptune with a jump into the air that made her wife jump back.

"Got what?" Said Noire who was not surprised to see her wife bounce back from that blow with her past falling out of the sky experiences.

Neptune ran to the desk to pick up a dry erase board that had crossed out name ideas on it. "Planepstation was a no, no. Lanepstation was another no, no. Plantation was a big, no, no, and everything with the word 'tune' made it sound like 'toon' which you hated my sweet little Noire. So, how about this…?" she wrote something and then showed it to her wife.

"Nepstation?" said her wife with a confused look.

"That's right, Nowa. Here you have 'station' which is in my opinion, the best part about your nation's name and has more letters then the 'La' part.

"Hmm," said Noire who looked intrigued about what Neptune was getting at.

"And to prove that I keep my word, I'll drop the 'tune' part since it's hard for most people to even get past the first three letters of my name. And I want to point out that Planeptune is an old name that was around even before I was around- just ask Uzume. So… it's either a coincidence that my nation named me Neptune or if it was intentional, but I'm getting away from the main point! I would at least like to keep the 'Nep' part of my name with it being my trademark for everything related to Planeptune and me, and my logo is even the cute N that is part of my name," said Neptune who let out a breath after her excessive rambling.

"Nepstation… it does roll off the tongue rather well, and we can even turn the N logo black so that it could also mean, Noire," said the black haired girl with a devious chuckle that made Neptune have white eyes with dark outlines.

"Umm, that could be an idea, but let's put a pin on that logo part for later," said Neptune with a shy laugh.

Noire then kindly placed her hands on her wife's shoulders. "I still love it regardless- and… I'm fine with dropping the 'La' part of the name.

"Oh, how about Planeptsun?" said Neptune with a cheeky smile.

"No! Nepstation is fine. And it does sound better the more it's said," proclaimed Noire before kissing Neptune on the lips.

 **(End Flashback)**

The flashback then ended with both of the CPUs smiling at the memory. "I think we did an amazing job in finding the right name," said Purple Heart who took a drink from her soda.

"We sure did, so what I'm taking from this is that you want me to hit you on the head with an oversized book?" said Noire which made her wife cough from having the soda go down the wrong pipe.

"That won't be necessary. I think that if we put our heads together we can come up with something wonderful."

They then proceeded to spend the rest of the night coming up with names that could fit. All that thinking took its toll on them until they decided to go to bed.

At their bedroom, their pillows were nice and fluffy, and the sheets were warm and soft that was a great prelude to some wonderful night sleep. Turns out that the medicine that Purple Heart had taken had caused her nausea to go down for the time being giving her the opportunity for some great sleep.

It was in that moment that Noire had teasingly rubbed circles on her wife's shoulder as she placed a kiss on Purple Heart's neck. "Neptune, now that the nausea is subsided, do you want to…" Noire didn't have the time to finish her sentence when Purple Heart shoved her away with her hand as she snuggled into her pillow. "No, not tonight, Noire," she said somewhat cranky, but in no way hostile.

Noire didn't know what to make of this considering that Neptune was always the one that would start it off first with Noire being captivated by her wife's allure. The fact that they hadn't had a passionate night for a while would have been good grounds to start it off. "Umm, y-yeah, that's fine, sweetie."

Like a light, Purple Heart was out leaving Noire the one left awake forced to turn off the lamp. She let off a sigh but figured that some reading would do her some good. She took the reading to the living room to not disturb her wife. Of course, the book she had was the one that had thought her many things, and she decided to start where she left off. Her eyes soon widen to the text that she didn't get a chance to read. "… lost of urges. Aside from being moody, she will also experience a lack of sexual activity. These two will most likely cause a gap between you two, but it's best to power through and don't feel like you did something wrong if she doesn't want to engage in any sexual activity. Give her her space and be patient with her."

Noire lowered the book with a big blush on her cheeks. "That would have been useful if I read that sooner, yeah, I will give her the space she needs," said Noire still feeling somewhat sad about that.

The days then moved on until next week had arrived that signaled the big day for the console reveal. The married couple was standing outside a grand mall with a fleet of media with their microphones and cameras at the ready as their goddesses would soon talk.

Noire was in her HDD with a purple and black dress that was a mirror image of the style that Purple Heart had who was standing behind her.

Black Heart tapped on the mic that was attached to her stand to signaled the media to get ready. "Ladies, and gentlemen, today we make history as we unveil the latest piece of hardware from the collective efforts of our now joined nation. This console is our shining future for better games and our connection as gamers in an ever-evolving industry that is built for you all."

Behind Black Heart and Purple Heart, Black Sister and Purple Sister were also there wearing the same style of dress like their older sisters as they removed a velvet sheet that showed off a giant photo of the new console with the name, Nepstation V, bolded in strong black and white letters.

There was an audible gasp from the media along with flashes from the cameras and ever-growing chatter.

Black Heart smiled, however, there was still one more piece of news that she needed to say. She looked at her wife who nodded as she took her position next to Black Heart; the stand covered her stomach.

"Everyone, as much as it would make me happy to have everyone funneled through, there is one more thing that needs to be said," said Black Heart.

The media chatter soon died down to hear what their goddess had to say.

"Along with a new console, there comes something else that is equal if not greater, b-but it is greater to my wife and I," said Black Heart with a stutter that she couldn't help but correct herself. This only caused more confusion with the media. "What I'm getting at is that my wife is with child, that was a result of our share energy beautifully resonating from the devotion of all of you. Our baby is a result of how wonderful this nation has become with unimaginable teamwork and happiness," finished Black Heart with a small tear of joy in her eyes.

Purple Heart soon removed herself from the stand to show them a small baby bump that was clearly noticeable, especially, since Purple Heart was known to have a perfect and thin waist.

Everyone's mouths had turned slack-jawed at the news. The noise was non-existent until the air erupted in a chorus of shouts of joy and amazement. The flashes increased and the media soon marched forward towards the married couple to try and get more information.

"H-Hold on! I know that this is amazing news, but don't forget about the Nepstation V, that's the real star for today, and there will be a time and a place for this news!" Shouted Black Heart.

Most of the crowd, which was composed of gamers, excitedly agreed with her as they marched into the mall to reach their game store that housed the new system, but the media were not easily swayed by that.

"Uni! Nepgear! Please take care of the crowd. I'm taking Neptune back to the Basilicom!" Stated Black Heart with a shine of particles that turned her dress into her HDD outfit. She wasted no time as she lifted her wife into the air and away from the media.

"N-Noire! Was that a good idea to do that?" Asked Purple Heart.

"Extreme, I know, but they would have eaten us alive if we stayed there any longer. Uni and Nepgear can handle the rest, and our job here is done."

Purple Heart gave her wife a soft smile and hanged on tighter with her arms around her wife's neck. "We should celebrate tonight because from here on, it's going to get pretty hectic," said Purple Heart.

"If you would allow me, I'll deal with the media when it comes to that," laughed Black Heart.

 **[Nighttime]**

Noire, Purple Heart, Uni, Nepgear, and Histoire were having a small party on the balcony with a gorgeous view of the city nightlife bathed in glowing lights. There was laughter in the air as they made a toast with glasses of soda to the job well done.

"Sis, people are loving the new console," said Uni who had her phone out as she looked through different sources like video reviews, let's plays, news articles, and posts about how great it was.

"It's so amazing. People are especially loving that this console has the same ability to constantly evolve in technology just like our old one," said Nepgear with a smile.

What Nepgear said was still a sour taste that left Noire with a little worry. "Yeah, Neptune was pretty adamant about that," said Noire who took a sip of her drink.

"Why wouldn't we want that? That was the beauty of Planeptune's old console. That we never had to bring out a new one every few years just to stay ahead of the console race with you all," said Purple Heart with a smirk.

"Yeah, the console itself always stayed the same but only the technology inside it improved with updates," said Nepgear with a smile.

"Hmm, I'm with my sister with this. Your console was pretty weird and unique for doing that," said Uni.

"Don't worry, in time, you two will see how useful that is since it gives us more freedom to just work on updates instead of rebuilding the body every few years. Like, Noire, you had four console iterations in the past, right?" said Histoire.

"Umm, something like that, yeah. Which is why we decided to put in the V in there for it is the fifth, since it's still Lastation tech," said Noire.

"But we also put in V for Victory to show that we wouldn't need a new one for a long time," said Purple Heart.

"I… I… kinda liked the whole number thing I had going, bringing out a new console every few years was invigorating, like if I was reinventing myself," stated Noire with a shrug. At the end of the day, Noire went with Neptune's core design of an evolving console since that was always one of the reasons Neptune never fell behind, and she figured that there were other ways in reinventing themselves when it was time, maybe with a unique tech update, or new features that they could implement.

They ate, drank, laughed, and had a great time that had help melt away most of the stress that descended in these past weeks. As it got later, Uni and Nepgear had left back to their Basilicom, and Histoire had retreated to her room for the night.

Noire and Purple Heart were once again in their room getting ready for bed. This time, Purple Heart was still awake. Regardless of that, Noire was deep in thought about these few days that past. Purple Heart hadn't engaged or appeared to be even interested in their lovemaking that made Noire feel somewhat empty inside. She pulled herself out of her thoughts when Purple Heart leaned over her to turn off the lamp. This gave Noire a good show of her wife's cleavage with the low cut sleeping shirt that Purple Heart had.

Noire's eyes dilated with an intense blush that could rival the color of her eyes.

"Hmm, is there something wrong?" Said Purple Heart with a curious pout to her wife considering she looked like she was in pain.

Noire snapped into attention. "W-What? I'm fine, just a little hot in the room that's all," said Noire.

"Really? I don't think the heater is on, but we can turn the air conditioner if you want," said Purple Heart while placing a hand on wife's forehead.

"That won't be necessary," assured Noire.

Purple Heart shrugged her shoulders and padded her on the back as she went to her side to ultimately fall asleep.

Noire was now in the dark that left her with only her thoughts that told her only one thing, that her wife didn't even give her a good night kiss. Maybe she should have been the one to go for it when they were close, or would that have been too much? She found no comfort in the silence of the dark, so she rested her head on the pillow to join her wife in the land of dreams. "Giving her her space, giving her her space," she said quietly to herself like a broken record.

 **I had plans to release this chapter sooner, but it turns out that I entered the new year with a cold. I'm doing a lot better, though. A few things that I want to address and I feel like I shouldn't but it wouldn't hurt. The names of the doctors were made up on the spot and there is no correlation to any real doctors that share that name. I hope that the doctor's visit was enjoyable to read, and my goal was to make it as realistic as possible, but I'm no expert in that department with my trusty friend, the internet, helping me out. I also kind of don't want to make it too long with too much detail, so finding that balance is good. Anyway, feedback is appreciated and thank you for making it to the end. I'll see you all in the next one.**


	3. A Heat Wave of Fun

**So… this chapter took longer to make because I ended up biting more than I could chew- making this chapter double the length of my usual ones. I did have the option of cutting it in half, but it went against the whole principle of the title with it having exactly nine chapters instead of ten. So I took to giving this chapter the attention that was needed, plus this was a chapter that I really wanted to do. What do you all think? I had my doubts about the way the chapter went, but after giving it some time, it's better to start fresh on the next chapter instead of tearing my hair trying to make this chapter better and/or probably redoing it from scratch, taking more time. There's only so much editing and reviewing until I reach that state of ad nauseam. But enough of my ramblings… enjoy the story!**

 **Chapter 3: A Heat Wave of Fun**

It has been three months in time length from that magical day on the eve of Nepmas Eve when Noire and Neptune conceived their baby. They were well into the third month with Purple Heart's belly only appearing bigger by the day.

Purple Heart was packing her clothes into a suitcase and slammed it shut with a hard push until the straps snapped in place.

Over on the other side of the bed, Noire was mirroring the same action with her struggle with the suitcase being won after a hard push downward. "Ahh! Oh, wow, that was a challenge," said Noire who wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was dressed in blue jeans, blue shirt, and a light black jacket. Purple Heart had on casual clothes herself with her having blue jeans, a white shirt, and a purple light jacket.

"Indeed, Noire. It feels like we packed too much as it is, but we're going to be gone for about a week, I think," said Purple Heart as she tried to recollect what Vert had told her.

"Hopefully, not passed a week. I really don't know- she said something about a handful of days," said Noire.

They looked at the clock that read close to noon. "We should get ready to head out," said Noire. Purple Heart was about to grab her stuff when Noire placed a hand on Purple Heart's suitcase. "Let me take it, it's pretty heavy that I would hate for you to endure that," said the black haired girl.

Purple Heart only smiled as she let go. "Won't it be heavy for you to be holding onto two suitcases?" Said Purple Heart.

Her words were rendered useless when Noire changed form into her HDD. "They're weightless in this form," said Black Heart with her charismatic smirk and piercing teal eyes that made the purple haired CPU to lightly blush. Black Heart still had her casual attire instead of her HDD outfit.

It was interesting to note that Purple Heart had her hair in a long ponytail as this was the new look that made her feel comfortable. "Then be my guess, my big, strong, strapping Black Heart," said the CPU mother to be.

This caused Black Heart to blush intensely. "You make me sound like some man. I'm just trying to do the right thing," said Black Heart with a shyness that would be hard to believe that Black Heart herself was doing this. This was one of many effects that Purple Heart had on her; to make even the strong and great Black Heart sound overly shy.

"I'm only kidding," said Purple Heart with a laugh.

They reached the living room to see Histoire who had her small suitcase on the ground with a device that produced a small hologram that was a means of communicating in the palm of her hand, "We will be gone for a while, but if there are any urgent matters that arise, please contact me with the provided details that I left at the front desk," she said to the person on the other side.

The small hologram that was a lead Basilicom worker nodded as the image vanished.

"Histoire, we haven't even left yet, and already you're getting work done," said Purple Heart with a kind chuckle.

"I'm only making sure that we have the means to get a hold of in case of any events that might transpire," said Histoire using her professional voice to get her point across.

"Fair enough," said Black Heart.

Purple Heart's phone started to ring and her smile grew as soon as she pulled it out of her jacket. She spent a few seconds on the phone, then she put it away. "They're waiting for us outside," she said happily.

Black Heart nodded, and they all made their way downstairs and outside to the street.

The people that were waiting for them, was Nepgear and Uni who had their suitcases, also. That was only half of the revealment as there were two other people that also had their things ready, and they were Compa and IF.

"You guys made it so fast," said Purple Heart happily.

"Punctuality is always a good thing, Nep," said IF with a smile.

"How are you and the baby doing, Nep-Nep?" Asked Compa in her angelic sweet voice who looked at her best friend's belly in wonder.

"So far, it's been all good health-wise, but it's a draining process that makes my body act funky," said Purple Heart with a sigh.

"It's not all bad, Neptune. At least you have my sister here treating you like a princess," said Uni with her light jab at Black Heart who was carrying all the stuff. This also earned a giggle from Nepgear, which resulted in both of them giggling.

Black Heart raised an eyebrow and had all the right to say something back, but she deeply enjoyed how her sister was acting very happy, especially with Nepgear.

"Noire is just doing what every good spouse should do when their wife is pregnant," said Histoire happily.

Black Heart lightly made a sound of amusement. "Thank you, Histoire," she said politely.

"That's enough you two. We should really get going or else Vert is probably going to keep playing her MMOs- having completely forgotten all about this vacation," said Purple Heart.

"Nah, she couldn't do that. She's the one who orchestrated this whole event," said IF.

"You'll be surprised on what things she lets slip. Now, where am I putting these?" Asked Black Heart.

"You can put them in the back of the van," said IF as she activated a button on her key chain that sounded out a noise nearby. This noise came from a blue van that was to the left of them. "I rented out a van for the trip to Leanbox, I figured that with all the luggage, Neptune being unable to change into her HDD outfit, and all of us needing to go to Leanbox, we could take a road trip to stack on this vacation," said IF who's over-enthusiastic voice was not lost.

"Honey, don't you mean Boxwee?" Said Compa cheerily.

This resulted in IF slumping her shoulders in defeat. "Ugh, it's hard to say Boxwee, and know if you're talking about Old Lowee or Old Leanbox; one is cold and the other is sunny," said IF.

Nepgear laughed at that. "It's true. Boxwee, the polarizing nation of hot and cold," said Nepgear.

They all let out a chuckle that was probably making Vert and Blanc sneeze somewhere out there in Gamindustri.

They then heard a slam of the back door of IF's van. "Hey, we should really go now!" Shouted Black Heart with her arms to her side.

They all ran to formation getting all there stuff placed in the back of the van. The van was then packed with IF taking the wheel, Compa taking the passenger seat, Purple Heart, Black Heart, and Histoire taking the midsection, and Uni and Nepgear taking the back.

"Alright, is everyone all set?!" Asked IF who was eager to see what this bad boy of a vehicle could do.

"Just take it within the speed limit until we get outside of the nation, darling," said Compa who clicked on her seat belt with her smile never faltering.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah- what about you all back there?"

Purple Heart took out some cookies from her jacket that made her wife raise an eyebrow. "All set back here," she said before taking a sweet bite from the first cookie.

"All set," said Historie while at the same time pulling out a book with a bookmark somewhere in the middle.

"Yep!" Called out Uni and Nepgear as they pulled out handhelds from their pockets and faced each other as if they were continuing an old battle for supremacy that they started a while ago.

"Then let's blow this pineapple stand!" Cried IF with a swift move by the lever that roared the van to move.

All of this activity in the van and Black Heart felt like she was the only one that was out of place with the fact that she didn't have anything to distract herself. She then felt a nudge from her wife who offered her a cookie. Black Heart kindly took one just for the heck of it.

Some time had elapsed from their starting point to the point where they finally reached the boundaries of West Nepstation. The road was bumpy, dirty, and brown. However, the area surrounding them was lush green, with variations of wildflowers, and small animals that roamed the land.

IF squinted her eyes to see the vast blue that was the ocean of Leanbox- or the oceans of Boxwee, which Compa would insist that that was the proper naming of it.

"Um, IF, question, how are we going to get to Boxwee while on land?" Asked Black Heart. Her question was answered by her wife who might as well been making music from the crunches of cookie that were emitting from her. "Iffy, has her reasons, Noire. But you should already know," she said as she oddly ate another cookie that was starting to be quite a new behavior for Purple Heart since she hasn't had much of an appetite in the past.

"What Nep said, and it is true that you should have already known about the… err, Nah, I'll surprise you when we get to the water," said IF with a hit of the gas that blasted the van forward. The journey was bumpy and long- too long for Black Heart's liking. But, she was the only one that did notice with Histoire making significant progress from where she last started from her bookmark, Uni, and Nepgear each respectfully making their shouts of either victory or defeat further reinforcing that they did indeed battle against each other, and that the battle was now over- would they do a rematch? Only time would tell. Her wife was still entertaining herself with the cookies, that seemed to have no end to that long thin bag she had.

Sometime later, the van came to a halt. They all looked out through the windows to see the calming waters of Boxwee that, and Boxwee itself in the far distant past the water.

"Are you finally going to tell me how you plan to get us over there?" Asked Black Heart.

IF merely chuckled as she hit a button. The van roared in sound and elevated inches higher into the air. "What in Lastation!?" Shouted Black Heart as a byproduct of her comedic fright.

The van then started to make a humming sound and moved forward into the water, but it didn't sink into the water at all- it floated above it gracefully.

"That's amazing!" Shouted Black Heart.

"It's nothing special. This van cost more to rent compared to a standard one because of the ability to hover over water with its built-in propulsion. See, the wheels fold horizontally, and there's a propulsion system underneath that can turn this bad boy into a swimmer," said IF with too much pride for her liking.

"It's a beauty, but I'm surprised that you didn't know this Noire. This is Planeptune tech, so it's pretty futuristic," said Compa.

"It is?" Said Black Heart who would be blushing madly if she wasn't in her HDD.

Purple Heart finished off another cookie and then placed a hand on her wife's leg. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, honey. Most of these fancy machines are overlooked even by me. Plus we have been busy with so many other things like the console, the baby, and the overall state of our new nation. Also- well, Nepgear does like to take charge and tinker with all the machines, including Research and Development that is related to the nation."

"It's true, I pretty much hog it all," laughed Nepgear from the back who looked more joyous probably form the fact that she was winning this round with Uni.

"Anyway, I hope none of you are seasick, cause I'm hitting it to the max!" IF did very much that as the van jolted forward causing waves to produce on the sides.

After a good about of time, the propulsions soon faded away, and they were once again replaced with the treads of tires and the harsh earthy mass that was Boxwee lands.

It took another considerable amount of time, but they made it to the outskirts of Boxwee. This place was once known as Leanbox, but after Vert and Blanc had followed in the same footsteps as their friends, their nations had gone through some reconstruction.

The land that was once known as Leanbox had gone to some few changes. It still retained its architectural style of box shape buildings, with a slick, and clean design for the roads and streets. However, there was now color on these buildings- preferably blue and pink- instead of the all-inclusive white that was famous for Leanbox, like having a bunch of white dominos perfectly aligned in that fashion.

No more was that analogy viable, as the streets looked more friendly, kid-like, and overall warm. The green was still a noticeable icon of the land, but it finally had companions of colors instead of the static white.

"Jeez, Vert's place looks so… different," said Black Heart.

"It looks like Rom and Ram are having their way with the look of all that pink and blue," said Uni.

"You think that Blanc gots Vert wrapped around her finger?" Asked Nepgear.

"I think Vert is being the welcoming guest that she is and letting her little sisters-in-law have their say in their new nation," said Compa.

"I think for Vert, she just calls them little sisters- that's something that she would shout from the top of the Basilicom," said Histoire with a slight chuckle mixed in with happiness towards Vert.

"Yeah, it's sure is something for Lady Vert for finally having a sister that she always wanted," said IF.

"And she has more than that- she also got Blanc," said Purple Heart.

They crossed the pathway that would have led them to Boxwee and continued to head forward around the outskirts. IF was multitasking with looking at the road and viewing a map that she had on-hand.

"Iffy! Please pay attention to the road!" Cried Compa as they just missed a big sizable rock on the dirt road.

"Huh? I got this, Compa," said IF.

"No, you don't. Give me the map, so that I can tell you where to go," urged Compa.

"Ugh, this place sure looks different from when I remember," said IF as she reluctantly passed the map to her wife.

"Thank you, now take a turn to the right on the upcoming pathway that splits," said Compa cheerily. With this partnership, they were able to find the spot where Vert and Blanc were expecting them.

The place came to view, which had a big ferry resting on the edge of a beach. There were also countless people in small crowds and cars parked all over the place. There was a housing establishment to the left of all the people that had workers wearing a beach style of uniform consisting of a red beret, a red flowery tropical shirt, and pale brown cargo shorts. They were regulating the lines of the people as they got on the ferry. "Alright, last call! Show us your vacation token, and get on the boat. Next ferry won't be back from Sol Paradise until thirty minutes from now- that's time well spent wasted!" Shouted a gruff man at the top of his lungs.

In the foreground of all the commotion, Vert, Blanc, Rom, and Ram were waiting for their friends to arrive.

"What the hell is taking them so long!" Shouted Blanc.

"I think that with all this wait time, I had time for one last strike in my game I was playing," said Vert who looked very sad.

Ram and Ram were playing tag with each other when they saw a van approaching them, "Hey, I think that's them!" shouted the twins in joy.

Blanc and Vert snapped into attention from their mindful distraction to verify that it was indeed them.

"Freaken, finally!" Said Blanc.

"Come now, Blanc, this is our vacation away from all the stress, let's not get fired up," said Vert lovingly. Those words had cooled down Blanc considerably, which was a good thing.

"I would have still liked it if they were here on time," said Blanc with a pout.

"I do too, but cut them some slack, also Neptune is pregnant, so we need to make her feel relaxed on this vacation." This realization had quickly set inside Blanc's mind. They had found out that Neptune was pregnant when they had tuned in to see the console reveal of theirs. A part of her was jealous that Neptune was having so much exposure from both the console news and the pregnancy, which came out of left field for her. Overall, she didn't know what to feel about these turn of events.

The van came to a stop as everyone poured out of it with a stretch of the body.

"Uni! Miss Nepgear!" Came the joyful sounds of the twins as they diverted their energy towards their older friends.

"Rom! Ram!" Came the shouts of Uni and Nepgear with them also running towards them with joy.

"It's been so long that we have seen each other, you big dummies!" Said the cranky, yet the playful voice of Ram.

"It's good to see you both, again," said the timid voice of Rom, but was still sounding elevated with joy.

"Yeah, it's been too long," said both Uni and Nepgear with smiles on their faces.

Purple Heart merely smiled from afar at the candidate's interactions while she ate another cookie from her seemingly endless tube-shaped bag.

Black Heart let out a breath of relief from the fresh air and sun that was hitting her skin; the salty air of the ocean also wasn't a bad thing either. She had the two suitcases; one in each hand and her attention, once again, locked onto her wife who was shaking the empty bag with a frown. "I was wondering how much was in that bag," said Black Heart.

"Apparently, not enough," said Purple Heart. Her eyes then brightened as she checked her other pocket to pull out an identical size bag from before.

"Y-You had more!?" She said full of surprise.

"Yes, but these are raisins, instead of chocolate," she said nonchalantly with her big smile.

There was no denying it, her wife was acting strange, and she feared this was only the prelude to a shower of shenanigans that awaited them. That would have to be postponed for later for Blanc and Vert were heading their way.

"Oh my, you all are cutting it close here. The ferry is about to set sail, it's best that we get on it first before we exchange greetings," declared Vert.

"That would be for the best," said Histoire who was high into the air to see that the other vacationers were getting on board.

"Ah! You mean that we barely got here on the deadline?! Okay, everyone, grab your stuff!" Shouted Compa frantically.

"What, we can just take the van over there if we can't make it on time. It does turn into a pseudo-style boat that floats on water," said IF with pride.

Blanc merely looked at her with the common uninterested look that she always falls back into when her mood doesn't shoot up into a rage. "Hmm, that could be an idea, but it's against regulations to take anything other than Sol Paradise authorized transport from to and back from the vacation island."

"That's true, and it would be wrong of me or Blanc to break their rules- it shows disrespect to their whole operation," said Vert.

"But- But… this is a rental! I… I… didn't think that far ahead that we would have to ditch it here," cried IF as she rested her head on the wheel.

"My dear, Iffy, you won't need to ditch anything. Just drive the van inside the ferry," said Vert who pointed at all the other vacationers and their cars as they drove them into the ferry to park in a section that had all the cars.

"No freaken way, really?" Said IF with a very happy smile.

"Last call! Get on board or wait for the next one!" Shouted an employee with a megaphone.

"Hey, get on board now," said IF who hit the gas and made her way to the ferry.

"Hey, if that's the case, you should have let me put back the luggage!" Shouted Black Heart at the top of her lungs.

They wasted no more time to get on board the ferry, while at the same time, Vert presented them with a blue, and white card with a logo on it. "These are verification tokens that you are all visitors of the resort, they had some history with freeloaders sneaking on board,"

"Huh, you don't say?" Replied Black Heart when she and all the others found a nice area on the edge of the boat to drop the things. She couldn't help but look over the boat and see passing fish carelessly swim around that brought a smile to her face.

"Very much, although, I fear that such actions will come to pass shorty," said Vert as looked at her watch and at Histoire, who also gave her a smile of understanding.

IF and Compa reemerged from somewhere at the front of the ferry. "Wow, this boat is pretty cool, and spacious," said IF.

"Yeah, and on such a perfect day as this, it makes me feel so happy that we tagged along, thanks again, Vert," said Compa.

"It's my pleasure you two, and the more people the merrier," she with her hands together. Her voice then changed to a more serious one. "Which leads to say that we have more on the way."

Everyone looked at her with confused expressions. "Huh, but the ferry just left, and who else?" Said Uni.

"Come now, we'll worry about that in a bit- the more pressing matter is our beloved Neptune and her little baby bump that dares makes itself known," laughed Vert.

The twins, Blanc, and everyone else looked to see Purple Heart who was still in her carefree way, eating her cookies. "Hmm, what's with all the looks?" She said feeling a little self-conscious.

Blanc was the one that moved forward with a stoic face to boot. "I would have expected this level of cluelessness from your base form, but come on… a month ago you two announced that you would be having a baby," she said.

"And?" Replied Purple Heart who started to make a small pout.

This only enraged Blanc for how layback Purple Heart was being. "And? It's been a month and you two didn't even tell us face to face," declared Blanc.

"In fairness, we have been busy with all sorts of things, and you two could have dropped by anytime," said Purple Heart as she took another bite from her cookie.

Blanc looked ready to blow a fuse, but her wife stepped forward before any more harsh words would be produced. "Eh, fair enough. We are a little sad that we didn't get notified right away, but this is why I decided on all of us spending a relaxing vacation away from all the work and stress that's on our plates," beamed Vert happily.

"That's very kind Vert, and I believe what Neptune was trying to say, that it's all good and that we appreciate the visit to one of Boxwee's beautiful places," said Black Heart making sure to give her wife a look in which her wife merely reluctantly nodded her head.

"Ah, forgive, Neptune. She's has been a little moody from the pregnancy," said Histoire.

"I can hear you, you know?" Said Purple Heart.

"That should be expected, and it's alright. However, Blanc and I are curious about how this really happened," said Vert who couldn't help but admire Purple Heart's baby bump.

"Well…" Black Heart then spent the next few minutes entertaining their curiosity. She pretty much told them all they needed to know because, in fairness, they were on the same boat if they ever wanted to have a baby, and just so happened to be thinking about it at the time of a passionate night.

"So… a burst of increased shares, the baby desire, and… a passionate night?" Asked Vert.

"Yeah, that's all of it," said Noire who decided on reverting from her HDD to let her body rest.

"I see. How are you holding up?" Asked Vert.

"Scared- mostly trying to raise a little one. I've taken into account all the crying, all the attention, and all the care that would have to go into, and I'm… nervously excited," said Noire.

"Really?"

"Yes, the share energy did decide to grant our hidden desire, and maybe I should have a little faith in myself," chuckled Noire.

"This is very unexpected of you, normally, you are always so steadfast and sure of all your decisions," said Vert.

"When you and Blanc have one, then you will know how torn I feel," said Noire.

This caused Blanc who was resting on the side of the boat with them to gulp nervously and moved a few inches away from them.

"Oh, Blanc. There are no ideas in my head just because they are expecting a baby," laughed Vert. She could clearly see that her wife wasn't ready, and now that she gave it some thought, neither was her.

Noire looked to her left to see her wife and all the others enjoying the scenery. It was at this moment that Histoire floated towards Vert with urgency.

"Hey, I just got a call that they would be arriving," said Histoire.

"Marvelous!" Cried, Vert.

"Who's coming?" Asked Noire.

In that instance, a portal opened out of thin air and out came a bunch of people with one dark-skin fairy landing on the ground in exhaustion with various luggage dropping as well. "Never… again!" Came the voice of Croire.

"Oh, that wasn't as bad as you were making it out to be," said a girl with purple long hair.

"You weren't the one doing it!" Shouted Croire that caused one of the workers to look down from their position up top near the command deck.

"What do we have here, stowaways?! I know that they are because I have a pretty good memory!" Came the angry reply of the worker that upon close inspection, they were one of the workers that were in charge of verifying tokens from earlier. The worker flinched slightly since they could have sworn that some of these newcomers looked exactly like the goddesses.

Vert jumped in with lightning fast reflexes anticipating this foreseeable outcome. "I would like to apologize, you are very right that these… might be stowaways, but they are not. They're simply friends of mine that were running late and had the brilliant idea of parachuting in," said Vert with an unwavering smile.

The worker had a sweat drop that perfectly described how much they believed. "Umm, where's their gear then?"

Vert hardened her face with her hands folded. "Let's not sweat on the small details. What really matters is if they paid. The thing is, I had their tokens, so it would have been an awkward mess if I was already on the island when they got here. You will find that the tokens here equal the same amount of 'stowaways' that are present," said Vert when she pulled them out from her pocket.

The worker scratched their chin, but after counting, they couldn't say anything else. "Alright, but my lady, tell your friends… or fans, whatever, that punctuality is taken very seriously here, especially when they don't have their tokens on hand,"

"That will be noted in the future, I thank you for your hard work," said Vert with a kind nod.

Once the worker retreated to their original position, Vert turned around to the newcomers that had landed. "I'm not surprised that you all would make such a grand entrance," she said with a sigh.

All the others that weren't part of the 'newcomers' stood in shock at seeing longtime friends.

The purple haired girl scratched her head in innocence with a cheeky smile. "It… took a long time to get everyone together."

Her companion, that had blond hair, folded her arms with a frown. "That's because you and Plutia were having trouble being in the same space as the other, Neptune." Remarked the blond girl that turned out to be Ultra Vert.

"I was trying to play nice, but she was shoving me while we were trying to get around Darksty," said a soft voice from another purple haired girl.

"Don't call me that," came the rapid reply of Croire.

"That is so not true!" Shouted the purple haired girl known as Ultra Neptune, but her loved ones call her Neppy.

At this moment, their significant other had joined their side with heated words of their own. "Cut the crap. This fight has no meaning, Plutia," said the voice of her soul mate, Ultra Blanc.

Ultra Neptune's soulmate, which was her wife; Ultra Noire, joined her wife's side. "Well, obviously. But she was pushing my wife who was in the middle. Were you hoping to knock her away to get left behind?" Said Ultra Noire.

"Why would I want to do that? I was getting pushed by Vert- we all were trying to get in close to Darksty," Said Plutia.

"Again, that's not my name. Ugh, if I wasn't having such an off day, I could have just made a portal that would have stayed opened," complained Croire.

"Oh, Crostie, you did the best that you could do and it paid off in the end," said Ultra Neptune with a loving hand on her little friend.

"Don't touch my hair!" Shouted Croire, however, she was internally feeling warm for that compliment.

"Can we just let this go!?" Shouted Ultra Blanc.

"I can agree to that," said Ultra Vert who walked over to her hyper dimension counterpart, and accepted the tokens that she gave her.

Vert smiled at her mirror counterpart. "Indeed, and I'm so happy that you all accepted my invite to our little CPU vacation."

The rest of the CPUs that had been stunned from the unexpected appearance of the ultra residents, sprang into motion with minds full of questions.

"Vert! You didn't tell us that you invited them," said Noire with a hand on her hip.

"Hmm, I figured it would be a nice surprise, and I did inform Histoire about this, though," said Vert with her cheeky and innocent smile.

"It's true, she told me if I could get in contact with the other me and see if we could form a get-together," said Histoire.

"And it was a great idea to do this. It has been so long since I've seen all of you," came a small and young voice that sounded like Histoire.

The CPUs of Hyper turned their heads at different areas of the boat deck, but could not find out where the voice had come. Turns out, due to all the commotion that the two ultra couples had created, everyone failed to notice the presence of a red-haired girl accompanied by a floating fish, and a small fairy girl with a book underneath her.

"Uzume, Umio, little Histy," came the first responder that was Purple Heart. Her chest tightened with joy from seeing her good friend, predecessor, and a second sister in her eyes.

Uzume grinned at Purple Heart with her cool smirk and even cooler pose. But she wasn't going to stand around looking cool. For this brief moment- in her own words- she allowed herself to look very uncool as she let her sunny personality get the better of her. "Nepsy! It's been too long!" She shouted with joy and a full sprint to her friend and sister in her eyes.

The collision of the hug was an awkward one, as Purple Heart was self-aware that she needed to turn her baby bump of a tummy in order to protect her little bundle of share joy. Luckily, Uzume was smart enough to understand what her friend was preventing with her somewhat restrained hug that kept her at a distance.

Uzume chuckled lightly with her arm behind her head that served a double embarrassment from her rough, harsh, and abrupt hug that also encompassed her valley girl personality. "Hehe, I got a little too happy there."

"Nonsense, It's good to see you again, Uzume. You… look much more radiant than the last time we met in person," said Purple Heart with those words inviting a sad memory of the last time she saw Uzume who looked worn out and pale from recently being removed as Planeptune's second CPU and ultimately having her fate given to Ultra Vert.

"Nepsy, I see that long stare of sadness plastered on your face. I did feel like a dogoo pancake the last time we met, but now I'm Leanbox's CPU, along with my wonderfully cool Vertsy," said Uzume as she lifted her ring hand to show a beautiful orange and green ring.

This did not deter Purple Heart from her sorrowful smile as she held Uzume's hand to get a better look. "Why didn't you invite us to the wedding? And why didn't you come to ours?" Said Purple Heart who was just barely keeping her emotions from breaking.

This declaration had caused Uzume to dawn her own sorrowful face. "Nepsy, Vertsy and I couldn't make it to the event- not with all the work that we had into fixing up Leanbox. Some people didn't like me regardless of the fact that the nation was declining, and I had to use every second of the day to win them over. But I did, and Vertsy and I have an amazing nation that we are running together. As for the wedding…" Uzume grew silent unable to feel that she could find proper words. This caused her wife to walk over to them.

"As for the wedding, we haven't had one… not yet that is," said Ultra Vert with a smile.

"Why is that?" Asked Noire who had joined her wife to soothe her raw emotions that were probably enhanced due to the pregnancy.

Uzume laughed shyly with her fingers connecting. "Well, a dress isn't my style," said Uzume.

This earned her a laugh from Umio and Ultra Vert. "Don't lie to keep your cool status intact, darling," said Ultra Vert.

"Indeed, Uzume and Vert are still working their status into a ceremony of marriage into the foreseeable future," said Umio.

"So… you two are still taking it slow?" Said Purple Heart.  
"Yeah, it sounds crazy after we already joined in shares, but that's how things are for us," said Uzume.

This caused a wave of joy to wash over Purple Heart that made her erupt into a happy laugh. "That's wonderful! Take your time and I wish for Noire and I to be on that joyous day!" It was amazing how fast Purple Heart's mood had changed that it gave Uzume some whiplash, but she nodded in return.

"So… about the baby," stated Uzume who was then pushed comedically aside by Ultra Noire, and Ultra Neptune.

"Oh, finally we get to the good stuff- no offense Uzume," added Ultra Neptune with her eyes beaming at her counterpart.

"Yeah, Croire kept it to herself for a while, but she eventually let it slip that you somehow had gotten pregnant," said Ultra Noire with her eyes also beaming at Purple Heart.

"Eh, let it slip after I made a comparison about Noire's moody behavior to that of a pregnant CPU, and how she might be acting just as bad if not worse than you," said Croire who couldn't help but laugh once again at her own joke.

Ultra Noire folded her arms in annoyance. "Hmph, you can see how that insult shed some light into what's been going on over here."

Amusingly enough, that attitude did not stay long, as Uzume, Ultra Noire, and Ultra Neptune comedically inched their faces close to Purple Heart's baby bump of a tummy that their cheeks were practically touching the other.

"Oh, man, you're huge, Nepsy," commented Uzume.

"I tell you, it looks so weird to see that waist of yours so big," commented Ultra Neptune.

"It's not like it's a big deal or anything," said Ultra Noire with red cheeks and a somewhat displeased expression.

"So, have you thought of a name yet? Said Uzume.

This caused Purple Heart to crack a smile of joy as she tapped her lip with her finger. "As a matter of fact, I do have a tiny idea for the name."

"You do?" said all three including Noire who at this point, realized that they hadn't even discussed that topic yet.

"I do. We already know that it's going to be a girl, but I want to keep the name a secret for now," said Purple Heart much to the dismay of her wife and the Ultra CPUs.

All three of them then started to feel her stomach that made Purple Heart giggle slightly from all the touching. She then looked over to see Plutia in the distance who looked kind of sad and out of place. This made Purple Heart to kindly move past her friends to reach Plutia.

"Plutie, would you like to have a feel?" Said Purple Heart. Noire internally received a chill all over her body but cast that aside if that was what her wife wanted.

Plutia grasped her hands together in joy and nodded at her longtime friend. "That sounds wonderful, Neppy!" She then placed her hand on her friend's stomach with her smile never wavering. "Hey there little one, I'm your auntie, Plutia. We are going to have so much fun together. The world is a scary place, but also fun, so just grow up, and I'll make sure no one hurts my sweet little niece."

Those words had caused Nepgear and Uni to tense up at the idea of Iris Heart being that protective and being a major influence on the development of their niece.

Noire had something similar but wasn't making any wild assumptions for the future unless she had hard facts that it would come to pass like that and if anything, she was also going to be there to teach her little girl what's right and what's wrong.

All of this wasn't anything serious to Purple Heart who actually loved the idea that her little girl would be surrounded by so many people that cared for her.

Soon time had elapsed, and the ferry had finally reached the sandy shores of Sol Paradise. The doors opened as a flood of people funneled out of the ferry.

"Alright, everyone, stick with me because this place can get pretty hectic," stated Vert who led them to a public changing room. It took a few minutes when everyone got out to show off their outfits/swimsuits that they had brought.

Noire had a blue bikini top with a bottom piece to match that had frills lined around it. She also wore a blue shirt, since she didn't want to walk around the island in her swimwear unless she was by the beach. Purple Heart's swimsuit had looked the same, but with white and Purple. She also wore a purple shirt too, mostly for the reason that she didn't want to draw attention to her stomach. Lastly, she had on a brown flowery hat to protect her from the sun.

Uni had a traditional black swimsuit; the same as Nepgear who wanted to match with her girlfriend. Blanc had one that was white and blue, and Vert had one that was green and white.

Uzume had a polka dot orange and green that was a mirror image of her wife's outfit. Of course, this was overlapped with beige shorts and an orange tank top for roaming usage. Her wife did have added clothes with a towel-like sash wrapped around her waist and a hat just like Purple Heart.

Ultra Noire and Ultra Neptune both had a striped black and purple one that they loved, and they were eager to jump into the water.

And Ultra Blanc and Plutia had a purple and blue pair, respectively.

Lastly, Rom and Ram had a one-piece suit composed of pink and blue, respectively.

"Oh yeah! I can already sense that this is going to be a killer day! So, what's on the planner, Vert?" Said Ultra Neptune.

Before Vert could speak, a crude looking dummy doll that was made of straw and had a poorly drawn face landed on Uni's head. "Huh? What's this?" Asked Uni to her girlfriend that was right next to her.

A scream then ignited from afar that startled all the CPUs. "HUZZAH! The sol dummy has spoken!" Shouted a man from a nearby sand hill that was accompanied by countless other vacationers.

"W-What!?" Shouted Uni with a fright.

To go into further detail, the man that had screamed had on a blindfold that he just recently took off and appeared to have been the one that threw the dummy into the air. "You! You are the chosen one that will lead us into a memorable day of fun and indulgence!" Shouted the man.

"In other words, you're our honorary leader for the day. Oh, guide us little candidate of Nepstation!" Shouted a woman that was part of the crowd.

"Ahh!" Shouted Uni as she was lifted into the air and taken away by the massive crowd; all the while, she holding the so-called 'sol dummy.'

"W-Where are they taking Uni!?" Came the simultaneous cries of Noire and Ultra Noire, while at the same time, Nepgear cried in a panic as she insisted on catching up with Uni.

"Oh, shot! Come on, Rom! Let's go with Nepgear and Uni- it looks so funny how they have her in the air," said Ram to her sister who nodded sheepishly.

"N-Noire! Don't leave my bags behind!" Shouted Uni as she soon faded behind a sand hill with the other candidates and vacationers.

"W-WHAT!? V-Vert! What are they doing to Uni!?" Shouted both of the Noires.

Vert had on a thinking face trying to find the best way to approach that topic. "Well, I do believe that she got selected by the eccentric partygoers who called themselves the Sol Wave," said Vert with a carefree smile.

"The what?!" Once again, blurted out both of the Noires.

Blanc decided to step forward. "The Sol Wave. To be honest, it's a group of people that are taking breaks from studies and come here to unwind. But that's only about a part of what that group is made of. It pains me to say that the large portion of them are Northen Boxwee residents that have taken a rather unhealthy obsession to the fact that their citizenships have been extended to Southern Boxwee after Vert and I joined nations."

Vert let out a large laugh of joy. "My dear Blanc, these young former Lowee residents have known and felt nothing but cold and cloudy skies. The fact that tourism is high from 'Old Lowee' to 'Old Leanbox' means that the people have welcomed my part of the lands with open arms. Why… some of them have even moved over here to get a change of scenery."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just wish that they could at least show some restraint," said Blanc.

"They love this vacation spot, Blanc. It's only natural that they would create a devoted gang of partygoers to the one place that gives them amusing freedom and represents the embodiment of sun, warmth, and fun. The founders of Sol Paradise have even welcomed this," said Vert as she pointed to a sign behind both of the Noires that read, "Welcome to Sol Paradise, where even the coldest of hands and hearts can find radiation and rejuvenation… also, we welcome our friends from up north."

Noire just looked at the poorly added line of text that was horribly tacked on. She looked at Vert with annoyed eyes. "Stop skirting around the situation and tell me where they are taking Uni!"

Vert let out a small breath but agreed. "She isn't in danger, Noire. The Sol wave has this tradition where they select someone to be their leader for the day by throwing a dummy doll into the air at the direction where the newcomers get dropped off. Some might say that it disturbs the peace of the newcomers, but none have reported them because of that. In fact, they actually treat the selected with the most respect."

Noire's anger was high that one could see a nerve on her forehead strain. This level of aggression was then soothed by a hand on her shoulder that turned out to be her wife. "It's going to be fine. If what Vert says is true, then Uni has an interesting day ahead of her, plus Nepgear and the others are by her side," said Purple Heart.

Noire's anger released with it becoming a mere pout at the end. "Fine, those deranged hooligans better not do anything funny," said Noire.

"I can assure you that their history here on this establishment has been nothing but clean with the founders seeing no ill harm form them being part of the experience," said Vert with a smile.

A van pulled up in front of them that revealed IF who was behind the wheel. "Hey, Compa and I are going to find a parking place. Where did you all think of starting the day off?" Said IF.

"Hmm, that is a good question. Frankly, there's so much to do on the island from spending time on the sandy beach, going for a hike on the hills, checking out the popular attractions, and that all you can eat buffet," said Blanc when she had pulled out a map.

"Well, first thing first would probably be getting accounted with our rooms and offloading all the luggage," said IF.

Vert jumped into the conversation. "Right you are. The place we are staying in is the hotel building to the east of the island. If you take the road path that leads out of the beach, it should take you to the parking area close to the main building- that also reminds me, everyone, come closer!" Shouted Vert.

All the CPUs got closer to Vert who was close to the van with IF. "Okay, I should have said this sooner, but in the main building, I took the liberty of getting a handful of rooms for all of us. In fact, those tokens that I gave you all are actually keys that open the selected room that you will be staying in." Everyone pulled out the tokens that they had and turned them around to see a room number behind it.

IF looked at her room number when Vert handed her two of them. "Huh, neat," she said.

"From the look of things, getting our luggage to the rooms should be top priority," said Uzume who wasted no time in lifting her heavy luggage along with her wife's one. This act did not go unnoticed by Ultra Vert who admired the strength of her wife. It went without saying that Blanc found this smile from Ultra Vert to be unsettling for it was a smile that in her own words, should be directed to her and only her. In short, she found this act from Uzume to be an unsung challenge that she felt she needed to match.

"Here, Vert, let me grab both of our luggage," said Blanc.

"Oh, how very kind of you, Blanc. Then I'll grab the twins' then," said Vert, which made Blanc stare off into the sand to see that those little ones had bailed earlier.

"I… I… can get those as well," said Blanc. Her words were clearly that of someone who was unaware that they were biting off more than they could chew.

"Oh, Iffy! What if we get everyone's luggage into the van? That way they don't have to make the journey," said Compa.

"Yeah… how about it guys? Just load all that stuff in the back and later on once we had our fun, we can grab it from the van," said IF.

"That sounds wonderful, Iffy. Are you sure it won't be too much of a problem?" Asked Purple Heart.

"Pfft, not really. It will be safe inside the car, and it beats cramming everyone in. This way, we can offload it later from the parking place." It was agreed by everyone and they all watched as IF and Compa drove off to the hotel building.

"Alright! Anyone want to hit the water?" Said Ultra Neptune. Her wife agreed with a firm hold onto her hand and a chuckle that was all that Ultra Neptune needed.

Noire liked the sound of having her feet soaked near the approaching sea waves, but her wife had other plans. "We could do that, but why don't we try that buffet area that was mentioned earlier?" Purple Heart had on a child-like smile that caught Noire off guard since it was one that was all too well known from her wife's base form.

"Neptune, you're hungry right now?"

"Yes, very much, Those cookies only managed to ward off my hunger momentarily. Please, oh please, let's check it out," said Purple Heart with the cutest puppy dog look that was rare to see from Purple Heart. Normally, such a face would have had a greater effect if she was in her base form, but this unique variation was all too much for Noire.

"If that's what you want, then let's go," said Noire defeatedly.

The plans had been finalized, and everyone had their own unique pass times that they had decided on. Neptune and Noire from Ultra were going to spend a few hours at the beach, Noire and Purple Heart were going to check out the fine food that this place had to offer, and everyone else, with the exception of the candidates, and IF and Compa, had decided on checking out some fun games and activities that the island had.

 **(Noire and Purple Heart)**

With all these different activities, it would be fitting to start off with Noire and Purple Heart who had walked along the sand towards the direction of the food establishment.

Noire had a map opened up that she had managed to acquire from an info board located nearby. These boards provided them with portable maps that showed them how to get around the island.

"This place sure is rather large," said Noire, tilting her head to better understand where they were on this map.

"You could say that again. It was generous of Vert and Blanc to invite us here," declared Purple Heart.

"I mean, it would be rude to say no, especially since we haven't seen each other in a good while. Plus, it will do us some good to get away from work," said Noire happily.

"And here I thought that you didn't have a hidden plan for agreeing," said Purple Heart with a sly smile that made her wife turn her head.

"Hey! After the console launch, there isn't any serious work that meets a deadline so early. We did agree that you could be included in the work, but I still don't want it to be a continuous effort without any pause," said Noire close to her wife's face.

Purple Heart merely smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead that made Noire blush wildly for this act being shown in public. "Let's not talk about work or any stress-related things. I know that eventually I will be put on the sidelines for the sake of the baby."

Noire smiled softly by those words. She was greatly proud of her wife for keeping her promise that she wasn't going to push it while working and being aware that she would have to stop altogether in the near future. She liked this knowing that when it came to telling her wife to step down, she would agree without a fuss.

 **(Everyone else)**

In another location on the island, the rest of the group that was composed of Vert, Ultra Vert, Blanc, Ultra Blanc, Uzume, Plutia, Umio, and the two Histoires had made their way out of the sandy coastline, and to an area that resembled a theme park with rides, games, colorful attractions, and more.

"No freaken way!" Shouted Uzume with excitement. "This place is loaded with all the cool stuff- they even have big prizes," she said when she inspected a game stand with a shelve full of colorful prizes like stuffed toys, idol figurines, fancy small electronics, and small knickknacks.

"Indeed, they do. It pains me that we don't have one in our Leanbox," said Ultra Vert.

"Hey, that's true. You think this island is in the same location in our dimension?" Said Uzume.

"It would most certainly be. Are you thinking the same thing that I'm thinking?" Asked Ultra Vert with a level of genuine excitement in her eyes.

"Heck, yeah! We can basically set up the same vacation spot, just like here," declared Uzume with a fist in the air. The two Leanbox CPUs joined hands in celebration from the work they now had planned when they got back home.

The others couldn't help but faintly smile in silence at the little moment that the married couple of Leanbox were having. Well… that was mostly true with the exception of Blanc who- no matter how hard she tried, couldn't get over the fact that her wife's counterpart who shared the same face as her wife, was acting sweet to anyone but her. She knew that that Vert wasn't the one she fell in love with, but her eyes still found it hard to make that distinction while her mind and heart were already on the same page. She was pulled out of her thoughts when Uzume walked up to the owner of the game stand.

"Hey, you, what will it take to get that green armored space soldier behind you?"

The owner of the game stand turned around to pick up a standard arm-length size action figure that was capable of movable joints. "Ah, good eye there, young lady. This here is a highly sought after prize that you can only get by reaching seventy percent on the hammer bell with this here hammer," said the owner while pointing to the hammer next to a tall pole structure with numbers on it.

"Only that much?"

"Well, the amount of force you need to apply is rather large. Had this big hulking guy an hour back who only managed to get sixty percent, if you know what I mean?"

"Oh, alright, then allow me to shatter your expectations," declared Uzume.

"Hmm, you talk a big game. Let's see what you're made of," said the owner after Uzume paid them the money that was owed for a shot at this game. She then proceeded to pivot her arm around to give it a good stretch. The hammer that was next to the large tower was big, but in Uzume's arms, it was practically nothing.

"Alright bell, time to meet your maker!" Uzume unleashed the full force of her swing as the hammer hit the bell creating a small shockwave that sent the metal ball indicator high into the air.

The face of the game owner turned into a pale one as the indicator hit the one hundred percent mark flawlessly with the sound ringing all over.

"T-That's one hundred. Truly amazing!"

Uzume did nothing but grin at her flawless victory. "Looks like I held up my promise. Now, how about that green guy?"

"You got it, missy," said the owner of the game who did not look one bit sad about having to eat their own words in the end.

Uzume stared at the armored dude in wonder when it finally reached her hands, and the next thing she did was present it to her wife.

"Uzume? You're giving me this?" Asked Ultra Vert with the kindest of voice that only showed a small sliver of affection that she was radiating; her eyes were also another dead give away.

"Well, yeah, if you will accept it," said Uzume with one hand behind her head.

Ultra Vert hugged Uzume which resulted in Uzume scratching her cheek in embarrassment, of course, there was some blush going on with how close Uzume's head was to her wife's chest that she could pretty much feel them at the back of her head.

Once again, Blanc looked away feeling an uneasiness coming from the pit of her stomach. Her eyes then wandered over to her wife who had on a dreamy expression.

"My, how romantic for Uzume to show such great physical prowess in order to get her wife a prize," she said completely unaware that her words of praise had sparked an unhealthy emotion inside Blanc.

Blanc silently made her way to the game owner and slammed the money on the counter. "I would like to try it," she said with a steadfast expression that was being covered by her hair. The owner gulped violently feeling the intense wave of emotions coming from the CPU.

Blanc then picked up the hammer with one hand and then grasped it with two once it was above her head. "I will not be beaten," she said under her breath. The hammer went down creating a shockwave that propelled the indicator high into the air until it hit one hundred.

"Wow! Looks like we got another winner here, folks! What would you like as a prize?"

"I want that green armor guy," said Blanc who sounded a little out of breath.

"Umm, about that. That one was the only one I had, but… I have this fat quirky plumber that is right up your alley," proclaimed the owner as they held up a portly looking doll with blue overalls, red shirt, and a mustache.

It was about the same height as the armored soldier, however, that didn't matter as Blanc slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Oh, it's you," she said quietly to herself when she grabbed the doll.

Her wife, Vert, joined her by her side with a sly smile dawned across her face in glee. "My, I never get tired seeing you throw your strength around, especially in response to me," she rested her chin on Blanc's shoulder making the small brown-haired CPU flinch in embarrassment.

"Don't get all high and mighty, Vert. This didn't have anything to do with what you were thinking," said Blanc in her rapid defense.

"Oh, then what was I thinking?"

"Umm… darn, it really was nothing, and I only played to keep myself from being rusty," said Blanc with a look of denial that would have given Noire a run for her money.

"Oh, very well, my sweet Blanny! At least your warm-up didn't end in vain- you did manage to get a rather adorable looking doll," said Vert with her finger poking at the mustache of the doll.

"You think so? I… hmm, you can have it then," said Blanc who passed it to her wife as if the doll had no value to her what so ever.

Vert knowing her wife all too good, took the doll from her hands without a sly remark knowing that it would only further infuriate her wife more if she pointed out how Blanc was giving her something that she truly loved, but was just masked with this aura of indifference that was clearly her way of not acting lovingly in public.

"It's a rather lovely gift, regardless," she said softly to her wife causing Blanc to further hardened her face to avoid any signs of joy and to purely keep a serious face- and it would have worked if her face wasn't colored like a tomato.

Both Verts showed each other the gifts that both of their wife's had presented to them with joy.

Blanc from Ultra didn't really look all that fazed by this and was mostly annoyed that her counterpart was being pretty childish. She was the only one, aside from Vert, to understand the actions of her counterpart and how she played that game just to flex her strength towards Uzume as if her wife would also be captivated by Uzume, also. "How ridiculous," she said under her breath.

Ultra Blanc then felt a poke coming from her shoulder, and it turned out to be her fiancee, Plutia. It was interesting to note that they weren't married yet like the other couples of Ultra, but they had a console already out that has kept them afloat with the new systems that the other Ultra couples have brought out a while back. Plus, they retained a good lead in shares since they are the only ones that have joined with existing lands all to their own.

"How about you, Blanny? Do you want to give it a try?" Said her loving soulmate who just so happened to be hugging one of her many plush toys that she would make on a regular occasion.

Casting aside her distaste from the actions of her counterpart, Ultra Blanc gave Plutia a kind smile, but a shook of the head.

Plutia merely gave her a nod of acceptance and walked forward to the owner of the game. "Excuse me. Let me try it," said Plutia with her never changing smile that she always dawned.

"Sure thing kid, it will cost you, though."

Plutia looked around her in a vain attempt to secure any money on her person. She then smiled brightly when she pulled out some money from one of the pockets of the plush toy she was carrying.

"You're all set. Feel free to grab the hammer when you're ready."

Plutia gave off a giggle and strolled over to the tall machine. What she did next went against any form of rules that were tied to this world or reality itself, as she lifted her plush toy over her head as a challenging and sadistic smile that only appeared for a second, had manifested. The toy then hit hard on the bell creating a large shockwave that blasted the indicator with a mighty speed that tore through the peak of the tower and shot up high into the air leaving all the other CPUs, except Ultra Blanc, in a state of fright.

"Ah, incoming!" Shouted owner of the now demolished game attraction with their only instinct being them diving onto the ground as if a rocket had been fired. The small metal indicator that had been launched into the air then landed a few inches close to their face creating a crack on the concrete ground to further emphasize the sheer force that it had gained. "W-W-W-WOW! Little girl, you got some serious strength- and with just using a plush toy? Ah, jeez, what's even in that thing?"

"Just love and gentle stuffing," said Plutia with a goofy laugh and smile.  
"Really, well if that thing had killed me, it would have been a life well lived to see something as crazily cool as that! Feel free to choose whatever you'd like," said the owner.

"Ah, thank you very much," said Plutia who decided to take her time on inspecting the wall of prizes that were displayed all over while Uzume and Blanc were beyond stunned at the power that they just saw.

A while later, the whole gang made their way to the rest of the carnival-type attraction with both Histoires and Umio holding onto a giant stuffed metal dogoo that could have very well been a beanbag chair if needed be.

"Plutia, let's take a break!" Shouted the small Histoire who was the collective opinion of the other two who looked ready to drop it on the ground.

"Oh, okay! Hey, let's have some food!" said Plutia who pointed to a food court nearby. This earned a collective sigh of joy from all three of them. Even after some time had passed, one thing was for sure, Blanc and Uzume now had a unified emotion of discomfort by the fact that Plutia out beat both of them.

 **(Noire and Purple Heart)**

Back to where Noire and Purple Heart were, they had made it to the buffet place that was actually still on the beach. This place was a restaurant that was very unique in the sense that the various options of food were housed indoors, but the seats were located in an outside patio with wooden flooring and roof that kept the customers safe while still enjoy the pleasantry of the outside world with only pillars holding up the structure instead of walls.

Noire stood in silence at the table that she and her wife were at while a drop of sweat appeared on her face. On the other side of her, her wife had plates full of food and she proceeded in cleaning all of those plates. In time, a tall tower of plates had started to appear next to Purple Heart.

"N-Neptune! I can't believe I have to say this but slow down. Jeez, I would expect this much from your base form, but not your HDD personality," said Noire who had only gone through one plate.

Purple Heart greedily swallowed the rice and egg roll that she had in her mouth and then cleaned her mouth with the delicate and grace that was expected of Purple Heart. "I'm sorry, Noire. I'm just really hungry and this place has absolutely everything," she didn't miss a beat when she grabbed a dumpling from a small bowl and proceeded on chewing it up.

"Hmm, I wonder about that- huh? Hey! That was my dumpling!" said Noire with a frown after realizing her wife's sleight of hand.

"If they do have everything?" Asked Purple Heart who had remained oblivious to Noire's cries.

"N-No! Not that- I mean yes… ugh, nevermind. I was talking about the fact that you've been chowing down on food even before we got here," said Noire with her fork pointing at her wife.

Purple Heart could say nothing but smile at her for she was aware of her sudden change in hunger. "I won't deny that, Noire. The thing is, I'm happy for this hunger. The last few weeks I couldn't keep food down or even have that much of an appetite. Now, I feel truly happy to have this craving once again."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess it's only natural for you to be having cravings. I'm pretty sure that's part of the pregnancy," replied Noire after giving it some thought.

"Is it really? Then that is a reliever. At least now I'm dealing with cravings rather than lack of appetite and nausea."

"Indeed," said Noire. She couldn't help but smile kindly at her wife and admired the changes she was going through in order to have their precious little girl. In her book, they were quickly nearing the end of the first trimester with more to come.

A lady that wore a red uniform came up to their table with a kind greeting. "Hello, would you two like to try dessert now or later?"

Noire was left speechless but that was okay because Purple Heart immediately jumped in first. "What kind of desserts are there?" Asked Purple Heart with a sparkle in her eyes that did not hide the base version of her's excitement. No doubt that if her wife was in her base form, then she would have been jumping all over the walls.

"We have a ton of desserts, but if I may make a suggestion, the pudding section on the desserts would probably be the best spot to start in, Lady Neptune."

"Oh, you do have a rather large list of puddings," said Purple Heart who had her eyes trained on the list as if her life depended on it.

"T-There's so many. Noire, what are you getting?"

"I'm not sure. I'd like something coffee flavor, maybe cold as well…" Noire was trying really hard to find what she deeply wanted that she started making weird strained faces.

She heard a giggle from Purple Heart that made her move the menu aside. "What's so funny?"

"Huh? Oh- it's nothing," said her wife with a rapid hast to her words.

Noire raised an eyebrow and looked at the lady who was still waiting for their order. "I don't suppose you have anything of the sort that I mentioned?"

"Indeed we do, but for coffee- would there be another flavor that you're interested in- like chocolate maybe, to go with it?"

"That sounds good," agreed Noire.

"Amazing, what about you?" Asked the lady to Purple Heart.

"Which one is this one?"

The lady's eyes widened and she gave Purple Heart a warm smile. "Oh, now that one is one of the top-notch pudding of puddings."

"Is it really? I've never heard of this one before."

"It a foreign pudding from far off lands, I'm not sure on the specific name of the land but it's a sweet pudding with apricot jam and a spongy caramelized texture. We even pour a cream sauce when it's hot and ready.

"Yes, that one- I would like one of those. The experience of trying new pudding is simply too much to resist!" Said Purple Heart with so much glee.

"Great! Our next batch of that pudding is almost done, as for you, lady Noire. We just so happened to have a dessert with those specifications refrigerated and ready to go."

"Great, ah, hold off on it until my wife's dessert is ready."

"Certainly," replied the lady as she walked away.

"Now, about that laugh earlier," said Noire with narrow and intense eyes.

"Laugh? Whatever could you mean?" Said Purple Heart who was looking at anything and everything except Noire.

"I'm not hard of hearing, honey. You laughed at something that I said and I would just like to hear it," said Noire with a fake smile that was designed to lure her wife in.

"It was just a joke that came and went on the spot, sweetie."

"Neptune, I promise that I won't get mad! A-And I'll be mad at you if you don't tell me."

"Okay, you asked for it. I was laughing at the description you said about your favorite dessert being coffee flavored and cold. The joke in my mind was that that description represented you down to a science."

"L-Like how?!"

"Well, some say you can be cold, like how you would prefer a dessert that is cold. You also said your choice of flavor was coffee. Knowing you, darling, you never skip on your daily cup."

"T-T-That's only because it gives me the energy that I need in the morning!"

"I know, I know, but it's adorable that if you would be a flavor, you would be coffee."

"Well, if you find it adorable then I guess it isn't too bad. Now, in the case of the whole 'cold' part, I speak for myself that I haven't been relying on that character trait these days."

"True, you don't keep your emotions bottled up and you don't push people away, but honey, being a little cold is an endearing character trait for me. I don't expect you to completely give it up," she placed a hand on Noire's hand, giving her a warm smile.

These words were supposed to cheer Noire up, but the black haired girl was being too stubborn to just let this pass, and her face showed it. "I don't know what to feel about that. I do tell you everything, right?"

"Do you? I mean, the important things, yeah, but it's okay to be shy about small topics that you don't want to talk about- it's very cute."

"Neptune! It's a flaw of mine that I'm trying to change."

"Fair enough. I just want you to know that there's good tsun and there's bad tsun, and for you, it is a very good tsun."

"W-What's taking them so long!" Shouted Noire with a red face of embarrassment. If anything, she looked like she needed some water to cool her down.

"Too cute," said Purple Heart quietly to herself.

"What about you? What would you be if you were a flavor?" Asked Noire who was going through different emotions and was now settled with a minor annoyed face that showed with one eye closed, while she looked at her wife intensely with the other.

"This small part of me in the back of my head tells me that I would be Party flavor…"

"- don't think that's actually a real flavor, Neptune."

"I know, no doubt that it's my base form talking, but an honest answer, it would have to be strawberry."

"Strawberry, huh."

They grew into this conversation that flourished all because of one single laugh. Before they knew it, the waitress came back with two plates of dessert. "Here you both go. For you, Lady Neptune- one Malva pudding. It's hot and delicious.

"Ah! This looks stunning!" Said Purple Heart.

"And for you, Lady Noire- one slice of chocolate cappuccino cheesecake." She placed a chocolate piece that was covered with cream and small chocolate chips.

"Wow, this looks great," said Noire.

"It is somewhat cold since it's been in the fridge to maintain temperature, but that's how you wanted it, so I hope you enjoy it." They were then left alone with two exquisite desserts before their very eyes.

Noire grabbed her fork to make a hard cut into the cheesecake that gave her some resistance. She then opened her mouth only to be blown away from the sheer rich, and sweet flavor that had exploded her taste buds.

Purple Heart cut a piece of the spongy-like cake of hers and allowed herself to be lost in an overload of taste buds. "Noire, this is the best- not including your puddings that you make for me- pudding that I've ever tasted.

"Hmmm! N-Neptune! It can't be the best if you exclude mine!" Said Noire a little defensively.

"Words can't describe it. Just have a bite and feel what I feel." Purple Heart offered a piece to her wife who accepted it, and she soon tasted the otherworldly-like food that made her reevaluate how she made pudding in the past.

"How's it so good!?" Cried Noire.

"I don't know, it just is!"

Noire managed to calm her explosive excitement and lifted a piece of her own cake to her wife. "Since you gave me a piece, it's only fair that I give you one, too," she said with one eye closed.

Purple Heart greedily closed her mouth around her wife's fork with a playful tug to Noire's fork, making sure to keep Noire honest.

"H-Hey, I said a piece- not a piece, plus the fork." Regardless, Noire smiled brightly at her wife's display. It was almost odd, but the way her wife was acting was as if both personalities from her wife's base form and HDD were almost melding together. In the end, she didn't mind it and it was probably a result brought on by the pregnancy. She did welcome this since it was vastly better from the mood swings her wife had endured. They were so lost with each other that they didn't realize all the commotion they were making among the other people eating there.

 **(Noire and Uni)**

Later on, that day, when the sun was slowly starting to set, they all agreed to meet up at the beach for this concert that was a catalyst to a welcoming party event for all the new vacationers, organized by the founders of Sol.

But just before that gathering, Noire had made her way to the resort grand hotel building with a huge burden of luggage. "Ah, finally… I made It," she said with a haggard breath and her back killing her. She made a desperate move for the bed but ended up slumping onto the side of the bed in a mess.

"Noire?" Came a voice from the open door that revealed her little sister, Uni.

"Oh, Uni! It's good to see that those people didn't do anything to you," said Noire while she wiped the sweat off of her face.

"I wouldn't say that," stated Uni.

Since Noire was practically in a daze from all the lifting, she failed to notice any details at first, but now, she could clearly see that her little sister did indeed look rather unique.

Uni had on a flower crown around her black hair that had yellow sunflowers, and Marigold flowers, which were orange in color and complimented the yellow sunflowers. She also had on a bulky flower necklace with the same color pattern as the crown.

"You look very… flowery," said Noire who didn't know how to react to this appearance.

"At least you had something nice to say, I felt ridiculous while wearing these," said Uni with a sigh.

"You can't take them off?" Said Noire who lifted herself from the floor and properly sat on the bed with a sign for her sister to join her.

"I mean, it would be disrespectful to their tradition," said Uni with a blush since that thought had occurred to her.

"Disrespectful? To the wild and outlandish ideas that a bunch of school vacationers and Lowee heat-junkies made up not that long ago?"

"When you put it that way, it does sound funny. But I can't really be too hard on them. Yes, they kinda kidnap me, but they treated me with lots of respect, and we had so many cool activities that we did," said Uni with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Oh, like what?"

"We all grabbed surfboards and rode some of the waves on the deeper waters, although, Nepgear was too timid to join me, which I don't blame her, and Rom stayed by the beach.

"Wait, only Rom? Then Ram joined you out there?!" Said Noire with a huge level of startle in her voice.

"Y-Yes."

"Uni, make sure that Blanc doesn't find out because it will not end well at all."

"- I know that! I told her no, but she was pretty adamant about it. After that we.." she stopped for a second as if she couldn't help but laugh fondly at the memory. "… we had a watermelon smashing contest. Some girl in the group had gotten a huge amount of watermelons and everyone took turns to see who could smash the most in the shortest time. Even Nepgear had a good time, but there was this one incident when it was my turn that they had me blindfolded and when I swung my hammer at the watermelon, I ended up hitting Nepgear."

"W-What!?"

"S-She's okay, for her being the sister of a girl that has a history of landing on her head from high places, she's pretty resilient. I do still feel bad, though. The others were understandable, so we changed up the activities after that incident."

"Ah, jeez, Uni. How did that even came to be?"

"I promised Nepgear to not go into detail about that, just that it had to do with Rom and Ram and a hermit crab,"

"Eh, fine. At least you had fun. I was going to go after you but Vert kinda told me to not worry, which I shouldn't take her words to face value."

"No, I did have fun, and Nepgear and I did have a lot of fun moments- which… leaves me with one concern from myself," said Uni in a small voice.

"Concern?"

"Big sis, my luggage… do you have it?"

"It's that one to the far right of the door," said Noire

"Oh, good." Uni ran up to her luggage and from Noire's perspective, she could only hear the sound of a zipper being pulled down. Uni then turned to face her sister with a confident smile.

"Uni, what's wrong?"

"Well, you see… I had this question for Nepgear for a while now, well, more like for months now, but I wanted a setting where it would be… romantic."

"U-Uni?" Noire needed no more words for she soon realized what her little sister was holding. Her eyes only grew wider when her sister approached her with a small box in her hands. The box was opened to reveal a pink diamond surrounded by small tiny blue ones.

Noire couldn't help but stare at it endlessly with an opened mouth. "Hehe… ummm, by the look at that reaction, I did a pretty good job?" Said Uni.

"Y-You're planning on marrying her?"

"Y-Yes, I now that it doesn't really mean anything since she and I are already joined by association from you and Neptune, but for me, it's the thought of giving her a symbol of my love- a symbol that says, I want to be more than just girlfriends. I don't care if we don't get any benefits at all like… h-having a kid and all that, s-she's all I w-want. Noire?!" Uni was so caught up in her little speech that she failed to see her big sister shedding a tear.

"I- I'm not crying… just got something in my eye," said Noire. She pushed herself up from the bed and placed her hands on her sister's shoulders. "Uni, you have my infinite blessing to marrying Nepgear, and I know that Neptune won't object either. Strange, by asking Nepgear to marry you, you're pretty much asking to marry your step-sister."

"W-What!? Noire! Don't say it like that. That sounds more like something Neptune would say," said Uni.

Noire burst into a chuckle. "I know, she is my wife after all, and I'm bound to catch her humor eventually. Let's just call this payback for you not letting me help you pick out a ring."

O-Oh, well, that slipped my mind and you've been busy that I didn't want to ask."

"Uni… when It comes to you, my family for that matter- I'll make time any day of the week."

"Big Sis." Uni hugged her sister tightly for what felt like literal minutes, but Noire remained silent to give her sister this time that she needed.

 **(Later that day, at night)**

Everyone had joined back at the beach after individually experiencing their own forms of fun on the island. Purple Heart was sitting at a bench somewhere near the sandy coast as a big stage was being organized behind her. She had no cares in the world as she ate caramel popcorn from a bag she had.

The others, were around the area talking among each other and also the ones that were coming to see the concert.

Noire narrowed her eyes comically at the bag and looked at her wife in disbelieve. "Where did you get sweets from?"

"From a few vendors walking around. I think they are selling them for the crowd forming up to see the concert," said Purple Heart. Noire slumped her shoulders in defeat at the fact that her wife seemed to be eating every chance she could get.

"It's amazing how much she food she's putting in," said Blanc who walked up to them with Histoire.

"Neptune, if you're going to eat a lot, you should at least eat some healthy foods," said Histoire with her demanding voice.

Purple Heart made a face but continued to eat. "Can't do that. I am aware of the overeating, but this craving train that I'm in won't let me get off. Its food and food, and more food twenty-four seven. It might be the baby making me eat."

"What? Is that even possible?" Said Blanc.

Luckily for them, Croire descended from above to steal a caramel popcorn from Purple Heart. "Ah, I was wondering when you would get to this stage of the pregnancy. Yeah, aside from the baby needing massive amounts of share energy, it also needs lots of food. Share babies, I tell ya- those runts can be pretty high maintenance," said Croire with a laugh.

"Hey! Our baby isn't a it- she's a she," shouted Noire to the floating oracle.

"Well, excuse me," said Croire with a cocky laugh.

"Croire, you are forgiven for that remark, but if you cease another sweet from me, I won't forgive you," said Purple Heart with a challenging look.

"Eh, slip of the hand. I know not to poke a pregnant CPU when she's in crave mood."

Aside from all the discussion, Noire went deep in thought about the value in Croire's words about CPUs needing lots of food for their baby. She made mental notes to check up on standard food cravings from her book for any helpful tips, and she knew that she would have to line up the kitchen with healthy snacks.

The set up for the concert unfolded with rapid hast, and soon, the beach was full of vacationers eagerly awaiting to see the concert. By this response, all the CPUs and friends found proper seatings whether it was at tables or on blankets laid spread out on the sand.

"Huh? Where's Nepgear and Uni?" Said Purple Heart after looking among her friends and seeing that they weren't present.

"They…" Noire leaned close to her wife's ear to explain this to her.

Purple Heart's eyes slowly began to widen as each second passed on. "They what?! Oh… that makes me feel so happy! This calls for a celebration in the form of room service later tonight!"

"Neptune, no!" Shouted Noire, sadly, her cries of protest were drowned out by the start of the music that had begun to play from the band.

( **Somewhere else on the island- Nepgear and Uni)**

Uni was sitting down on a small cliff that overlooked the night sea. She could hear the faint sound of music coming from her right side. She wasn't the only one there as her beloved girlfriend, Nepgear, was also sitting with her.

Nepgear had a pained face of woe with an icepack resting on top of her head. "It still stings quite a bit," said Nepgear with her whimpers being enough evidence for her pain if that big bump on her head wasn't enough.

"Forgive me for striking you with that oversized hammer, I didn't think too much of the situation before being blindfolded that Rom and Ram would have caused you so much trouble," said Uni with her face showing deep sadness.

"Hmm, it wasn't your fault, Uni. I only wanted to save the hermit crab from being taken advantage by Ram- she wanted to use its shell for an art project she had back home, and somewhere in all that chaos, Rom get involved, then I tripped with my head pushing the watermelon away- you know the rest, after all," said Nepgear with a hardy, yet tired chuckle.

"But if you even feel slightly off, you would tell me, right? Like the off chance that you ended up forgetting things- you would tell me that that's going on, right?" Stated Uni.

"Yes, but goodness, what if the first thing that I forget is me promising you that?!" Said Nepgear in a fit of panic.

"D-Don't think like that! I'm sure that you're fine, regardless. I would be extremely mad at you that the first things to go would be us being together. I won't forgive you if that's the case," said Uni sternly while she cupped her girlfriend's cheeks.

"What?! Don't say that you won't forgive me! That means that you just wouldn't talk to me anymore and I'll never find a way to remember," cried Nepgear in a fit of panic.

"That's not going to happen at all, and I'll just have to kiss you like this to make you remember." Uni planted her lips onto the purple-haired girl's lips that lasted a good minute. When it was over, Uni had a full on blush on her face that was torn between wanting to look away and keeping herself from biting her lip.

Nepgear had opened her eyes slowly, almost in a trance from the sheer unexpected kiss that was delivered. "Uni… hmm, that was so sweet of you. What's gotten into you to be this sweet with your words?" Said Nepgear who looked a lot better given the circumstances with her head injury.

"Am I not allowed to kiss you this passionately?" Barked Uni with her blush still in full effect.

"I guess you are, it was just a happy sudden one that's all," said Nepgear.

"Jeez, Nepgear, you make me feel like I'm not living up to my girlfriend duties," said Uni with one eye closed in annoyance.

"No, Uni, you have been the perfect girlfriend in every sense of the word!" Cried Nepgear trying to get this fact through to Uni's head.

"I wondered about that," Uni felt the small box inside her shorts and her hand reached inside to hold onto it with a firm grip. "… I think that I can top perfect, Nepgear." She gave Nepgear a smile just as she pulled out the small box.

"What's that?"

Uni couldn't help but make a small pout of disappointment. Nevertheless, she continued and opened the box.

It soon clicked inside Nepgear when she saw what was inside the box. "Uni! T-That's… t-that's…"

"Nepgear, I know that there isn't going to be any fancy ritual or perks to go with that, but I don't care. The only perk that I want is that I am allowed to call you my wife and for us to have the magical wedding of our own"

Nepgear's heart was beating a mile a minute and she feared that she would have passed out from all the excitement. With a final gasp of air, she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Yes!"

"Ahh!" Uni not only got startled by the shout but also by the fact that Nepgear lunged at her with her own form of a passionate kiss.

"N-Nepgear…"

"Now I hope that I retain all my memories," said Nepgear in sheer joy.

Uni's smile grew since they had finally reached the same level as their older sisters.


	4. A Deep Fried Burn

**Chapter 4: A Deep Fried Burn**

The fourth month had finally come, and after the CPUs' vacation, you could say that that helped melt all their stress away. If only that were the actual case. There had been new stress that had risen in the form of Purple Heart desperately trying to cancel her hunger with the food around the house. But Noire had made this incredibly difficult as she stocked the cabinets and fridge with all sorts of healthy foods, like celery, apples, sticky rice cakes, cottage cheese, and yogurt (yogurt, since Noire limited her pudding supply- even the ones she thought she had hidden from her.)

It was easier to say that there were no good foods anywhere, and she craved something greasy or sugary. "Hmm, your cruelty shows no bounds, Noire," she said silently to herself as she ate a bowl of dried fruit that was the closest thing to a sugary treat. She, of course, wanted something better and she couldn't help but express her gloomy mood while she lay on the couch with her stomach protruding outward.

Because of this selfish desire, she had a thought that leaned close to wickedness. Her eyes landed on her phone that was on the table and she dared to make a call, but she did because she was really hungry. After a few rings, the other line picked up. "Uni! I have a small favor to ask you- to my favorite sister-in-law," said Purple Heart with a smile that could have been felt on the other line.

Some time had gone by and Purple Heart was still laying on the couch and looking at the ceiling. She heard the door open causing her ears to perk up.

Unfortunately, it was Noire and Uzume that walked into the doorway. They had paint buckets in each hand and were dressed in blue overalls.

"What's this about?" Asked Purple Heart.

"Neptune! We talked about this last night!" Said Noire who now looked incredibly angry.

"Oh, sorry, that must have slipped my mind," said Purple Heart. Now looking back, she did remember Noire saying something about Nepgear's old room, but her mind was lost in thoughts of fatty snacks plaguing her mind.

"Holy, shoot, Nepsy… your hair!" Blurted Uzume when she finally got a good look at Purple Heart from over the couch.

"Thank you for noticing, Uzume," said Purple Heart who couldn't help but flaunt her new hairstyle with a hand to her hair to express how lush it looked.

"You look more like your human form now, with how short it is." One good look and it was made clear that Purple Heart no longer had the long twin-tailed braids that were iconic to her with her hair now maintaining a shorter length that looked more like her human form's hairstyle.

"You should have seen the look in Noire's face last week when I showed it to her. While I do like my long braids, and they're a big part of me, I also missed my short hair, and I thought, why not? My hair seems to be growing for the first time in HDD, and once I have my baby, I can go back into HDD and my hair should be in its original length."

"That… does makes sense," said the red-haired girl who was deeply putting some thought into that logic.

"It's true, Uzume. We ran it by Histoire who confirmed the resetting of appearance. Thinking about it now, we were once held captive in a place for three years and our appearance remained stagnant like our hair didn't grow, we didn't grow hungry or lost body weight throughout that time, either. Histoire and I concluded that since all the share energy is being fed for the baby, Neptune's HDD body is showing signs similar to our base forms where we can gain weight, and have our hair grow," said Noire while she had maintained her anger with her arms on her hips.

"I feel like I learned a lot about myself today- yay! I- mean… L-Like I had my suspicions that it was already like that, but it feels nice to have confirmation," remarked Uzume with her sunny voice before she had to correct herself.

The red-haired girl could still see that the room had grown quiet with Noire staring holes into her wife, and her wife looking away with an apologetic expression. "H-Hey, it's all good, Noire. Nepsy didn't mean to ignore the discussion you two had that night, right?" Said Uzume to Purple Heart.

The short-haired mom-to-be was forever grateful to her close friend for giving her a starting ground, and the support to face her angry wife. "Yes, I'm sorry, Noire. Now about those paint buckets…"

Noire let out a puff of air, and her anger subsided giving her a better look at her wife with more ease. "Well, we are going to paint the baby's room today so that we can then start adding furniture and decorations later," she said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, do you need my help?" Asked Purple Heart who was working her way back to her wife's good graces.

"Nah, that won't be necessary. In fact, I think it's pretty dangerous for someone pregnant to be smelling paint," said Uzume.

This caused Noire to make a breathy laugh. "Uzume, I think you're showing your age right now. It's true that paint back then could have been bad due to all the lead, but these days, they're pretty safe." With that small joke, Noire looked to be better managed with her anger now.

"Oh, hehe, now I feel old," said Uzume with a hearty laugh.

"Not at all. It just makes you more insightful and wiser," said Noire with a smile.

"Insightful and wise…" said Uzume with a far-off stare. Those words had hit something hard inside her.

"But Neptune, you can help us, but it's okay if you just want to rest. You can even help us out tomorrow since this is going to be a big job," said Noire.

Purple Heart looked torn. In one path, she could accept her wife's offer and help, regardless of the fact that she said it was okay to rest, however, she did have prior engagements with someone else that her brain and stomach were telling her not to ignore. "Hmmm, then I'll gladly be out of the way- this little one will probably get in the way of me painting," said Purple Heart with a soft rub to her stomach, along with a sly smile that made Noire make a speculative face.

Bear no Ill will thoughts about the purple haired mom-to-be. She did dislike the fact that she was hiding things from her wife, and also from the fact she would so readily ditch any plans for the sake of her own secret and shameful desires, but the cravings of a pregnant CPU were too strong to ignore, and she could taste her hidden desire as if it were dangling in front of her.

This was also expressed in Noire's thoughts as she did find it odd that her wife quickly concluded to say no to the offer of helping set up their baby's room, but maybe it was all in her head and she did give a valid point as to why she couldn't. "Well, okay, come on, Uzume. We have a lot of work ahead of us," said Noire with Uzume waving goodbye to Purple Heart.

Just as they had left the room, Purple Heart's phone alerted her of an incoming message that brought a smile to her face and with upbeat energy, she raced to the balcony of the living room.

After making sure that no one was around, she quickly opened the door. There was a person waiting for her, and this person turned out to be Uni who was in her HDD. She floated down to the ground and it was perfectly clear that she was holding a bucket of what appeared to be chicken.

"Oh, Uni… I might have to owe you a life debt after this," proclaimed Purple Heart as her secret desires were in front of her very eyes.

Black Sister, who changed back, merely gave her an uneasy smile knowing that what she was doing was basically something her sister would disapprove of. Regardless, she just couldn't say no.

The hungry CPU had taken the bucket of chicken- or more like the bag that had the bucket of chicken inside, along with other things inside to a nearby patio table.

Uni was dumbfound seeing Purple Heart crack a giant smile that could rival a little kid opening a present on Nepmas, and she became a witness to seeing the mom-to-be searching through the contents with bright eyes.

"Uni, don't just stand there, have a seat and have some of this chicken with me," said Purple Heart lovingly.

"W-What? Really? I wouldn't want to impose," said Uni.

"Nonsense- this is a twenty piece, right?" Asked Purple Heart with a stern eye towards Uni.

"That's what you asked for, also the biscuits and macaroni are also there," said Uni fully aware, now, that she had gotten a family to-go meal. That explains all the looks she was getting when she had bought them, not including the fact that the bucket of chicken was a dead give away from the start.

"Perfect! Then sit down already. The day is lovely, and there are plates in this bag," stated Purple Heart before chewing hungrily on a chicken piece. "Oh… my… such taste… I feel so complete," said the hungry CPU who looked like she was ready to cry any minute now.

Uni joined her still feeling conflicted and timid, but also fascinated how Purple Heart was eating as if she hadn't had any food in days. She kind of felt scared to see what she would do if someone dared to take her chicken away now. "Hey, Neptune… about that deal we made on the phone…" said Uni with a soft voice.

Purple Heart opened her eyes to look at Uni. "Hmm, oh, right. Uni, you have my infinite blessing to marry Nepgear and I fully support you in every way," proclaimed Purple Heart with some authority in her voice that quickly faded after taking a bite from her biscuit.

Uni's smile brightened like a kid in a candy shop. "Thank you, Neptune. You have no idea how much joy that brings me in you finally saying it directly like this to me."

"Yes, yes, there is no one out there that I think is a better option for Nepgear than you, now- please eat, so that we may enjoy this wonderful day," said Purple Heart.

There was no argument there as Uni cautiously grabbed a chicken piece from the bucket.

Over in Nepgear's old room, Uzume and Noire had buckets of paint all over the floor with newspapers completely covering the floor to avoid any accidents. The room had no furniture anymore with just a ladder being placed in a corner for those hard to reach spots on top.

"Oh, yeah, Uzume can't wait to give this room a makeover," cried the valley voice of Orange Heart that broke through Uzume's personality.

"Well, I'm glad that my helper is as motivated as I am," said Noire who skipped over any reactions to Uzume's personality shift.

"Umm, y-yeah," said Uzume with shyness just now creeping in, of course, she was the only one in the room that still cared about maintaining her cool attitude- even though all her friends knew that it wasn't a big deal once you got to know her. In the end, that was merely a battle that the redhead would be forever fighting with herself. "… so, the colors are going to be which ones again?" Asked Uzume," desperately trying to hide the fact, of her sudden change.

"It's going to be a nice blue with a purple color to go with it. I wanted red but realized that a cooler tone of color would be better. Red would make the room feel hot… or so I read up on," said Noire as she darted her eyes away from Uzume since she hadn't told anyone about the book she was reading.

"Ah, I see. Are we still planning on doing half of each color for the room, with purple being on the left and blue being on the right?" Asked the redhead.

"Yes, all that!"

"And also, are we putting shapes and little designs with the opposite color for each side, like a purple star on the blue, and maybe a cool blue swirl mark on the purple?" Asked Uzume with her voice failing to hide her secret agenda.

"Hmm, swirly mark? Oh, like your symbol that I've seen on your tie?"

"Well, it was just an idea. I don't mean to brag but as the little one is related to the awesome nation of Planeptune, she should know her roots… er," Uzume halted her speech when she saw Noire staring holes into her. "… never mind."

"What? I didn't say anything yet, Uzume. In fact, I think I like that idea a lot. And see it as a thank you for helping me out today."

Uzume's cheeks grew red with over-admiration at the positive response. "Oh, shot, I think my voice is going over to the sunny side once again…grr- ah, let's start the painting now," said Uzume trying to keep her mind distracted, which earned her a laugh from Noire who also agreed.

"Just watch out with the paint, I want to try to minimize the amount of it landing on my hair," declared Noire.

 **(Purple Heart and Uni)**

Back to the balcony, Uni had had enough of the food after having three pieces and some macaroni on the side. "No way, how does she manage to keep eating?" Said Uni with wonder in her eyes, since the pregnant CPU was already in her seventh chicken piece, with ten more to go. "H-Hey, Neptune, what's it like being pregnant?" Asked Uni.

The purple-haired CPU swallowed her recent piece and looked at Uni after cleaning her mouth. "Now that's a hard question to answer. Hmm… well, there's nausea and vomiting in the beginning. Also, the fatigue is unbearable- it's like wanting to get up and greet the day but finding no help from any part of your body. Pretty much your body saying, 'hey, do we really have to get up?'" This made Purple Heart laugh slightly at her own words. "All of that can be manageable, however, the mood swings are what throw you off. If you ever had that feeling that your emotions were in control rather than you, then that would be the best way to describe it. There were times that I would hate and get mad at your sister for her doing things that, logically, were needed to be done. Like, I felt so much anger when she told me I couldn't help with work anymore, but I knew that she did it only because of my well-being, and for the baby- it wasn't because she thought I would slow her down or was being a burden to handle. No, yet, those thoughts had crept up inside my head making me feel conflicted," said Purple Heart.

"W-Wow, that sounds really tough."

"Those raw emotions are unfiltered, and it's up to you to sort them all out and find the right ones for the given situation. Noire… is too kind, she let me work again after we talked and knew how much it hurt me to be on the sidelines… she… she—s-she…" A water work of tears had manifested from the pregnant CPU as she burst out in sorrow.

"W-What?! Neptune why are you crying?!" Asked Uni in a fit of fright at the unexpected emotion.

"I-It's be-because I've been so horrible to Noire! S-She does everything for my well-being only for me to be eating fried chicken behind her back! W-We were supposed to eat fish today, and here I am eating instead of helping out with the baby's room!" The unshakable cries of Purple Heart were enough to blast Uni out of her chair and right next to Purple Heart, as she tried desperately to calm her down.

"Neptune, you were just telling me earlier about emotions being all over the place, please, try to calm down a bit."

"Why? I'm so horrible! I shouldn't even be eating this food, yet I can't stop because I've had this craving for something greasy or sugary," cried the pregnant CPU.

"Oh, jeez." Uni was ready to go get her big sister, but a wave of determination had set in. It also didn't hurt that should also be receiving some burn along with Purple Heart since she was the one who brought the chicken. "Hey, if you feel bad that you're going against my sister's back, then don't be," said Uni with a stern face.

"W-What?"

"W-Well, I'm no expert on pregnant related things, but if you said that you had cravings for greasy and sugary foods, then isn't that what your body is asking- what the little one inside of you is asking for?"

The pregnant CPU merely sniffed in an attempt to halt any mucus she had that was running down her nose while her eyes were stained with red and tears. "Uni…"

"—I think that telling my sister is essential, but don't feel shame or think that you betrayed her if you eat this junk food. Your body is clearly asking for it, and maybe Noire is being a little too extreme with the food she has around."

"You think I should really tell her?"

"Y-Yes, I'll… even be there too, since I had a part in all this. Just explain it to her why you needed this food, and it's not like you're eating this stuff every day. You are eating for two now after all, and you need some junk food every now and then," said Uni with her tone now being a bit more steadfast since she started believing her own words.

The pregnant CPU wiped the last remaining tears away and looked at her with a smile. "Thank you, Uni. You helped me get through this intense wave of self-loathing that came out of nowhere. I can now see the point that perhaps my baby is needing this food, however, I still need to come clean with Noire. I can't keep this hidden from her."

"I understand. Why don't we wait a bit until they get done to ask them? I'll even make some tea to calm you down."

"That would be lovely," said Purple Heart.

 **(Uzume and Noire)**

Back in the room that Noire and Uzume were working in, they had done some good progress with Uzume taking the side that was meant to be filled with purple, and Noire taking the side that was meant to be blue. Noire rubbed some sweat from her face while she paused to admire half of a wall that she had already completed. Her eyes darted to the red-haired girl who was making mad dashes across her respected part of the room.

Uzume gained a sense of enjoyment watching her brush glide across the wall like it was a game. She let out a happy grin and did another set of motions at the wall. This once again, caused her to wiggle in joy at how fun it was to slash across the wall as if she was swinging a sword. Her excitement didn't stop there with her picking up another brush to dual wield the wall.

The black haired-girl that was across from her produced a sweatdrop at the erratic movements that her helper was doing. "Umm… Uzume," said Noire with hesitation. Sadly, her words were lost to the other CPU who continued to paint away at the wall and be lost in the clouds of her own world.

"Uzume!" Noire made the mistake of getting behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Kyaaa!" Shouted Uzume in her CPU voice and swung her hand wide that ended up hitting Noire in the face.

"Ahhh!" Shouted Noire who got blinded by purple causing her to fall on her bottom.

"N-Noire! I'm so sorry about that!" Said Uzume after it was all said and done.

A few minutes later, Noire was sitting in the corner of the room with a towel on her facing and a bowl of water next to her. "How do I look?" Asked Noire after removing the towel from her face.

"You look better, Noire. Hehe, sorry about that… though," said Uzume with a shy hand behind her back.

"What were you even doing?"

"Umm, I was having too much fun for my own good. I liked how fun it was to make those motions as if I was swinging a sword around. Then you touched me from behind and I freaked," said Uzume who truly looked sorry.

"I guess I can forgive you, you did manage to fully paint that wall pretty fast," said the CPU of Nepstation when she and her helper gave the wall another look. This regardless, made Uzume still feel shy.

"Part of my actions was because I ended up letting that other part of me take over."

"Eh, you do have a tendency to have your head in the clouds, but what of it? Makes me wonder how much of it you show to your wife, Vert," said Noire with a light smile.

Noire's words had hit Uzume hard making her gulp and look away in confliction.

"Huh, are you okay, Uzume?"

"Y-Yeah, I just never gave it any thought on that."

"What do you mean?" Asked the black-haired girl with curiosity.

"Ah! Nothing really!" Said Uzume who ran back to her wall to keep painting.

"Uzume, I won't pry in your marriage, but if you do want to let out any thoughts in your mind, then feel free to confide in me. I speak from experience when it comes to keeping your feelings bottled up," she said with a friendly smile.

"It just… Vertsy is… too kind to me," said Uzume.

"Too kind?"

Uzume gave out a deep sigh but turned around to face Noire. "It's not really a big deal. Vertsy is an amazing person that I really find myself being around—I should feel that way since she is my wife, but I feel like I'm limiting her," said Uzume.

"Why are you thinking that way? You both helped each other out with her sharing her nation with you and you helping Leanbox back on track, plus, she loves you greatly. Do… you love her?"

"I do! That's the thing… I haven't been able to live up to… I guess my expectations since Vertsy is being too patient."

"Huh?! Y-You mean… like bedroom related things," said Noire with a red face.

"Very perceptive of you, Noire. Well, that's actually one of two things, but yeah, that does hit home. I just find it hard to take that next step with her. Last month, when we were on that vacation, I was really being the ideal wife that I was trying to be, but I couldn't push myself any further. We were in the hotel room one night and it was the perfect time to express to her how much I love her!"

Noire couldn't help but be elated that Uzume flatly stated her love without any other words tacted on.

"She was reading a book on the bed and I was next to her, and I just couldn't do it. I'm scared because I lack the courage to make that move, dammit. And she respects me too much for her to make that move!"

"Uzume, you have nothing to hate yourself about. It's okay to feel like you lack the courage or confidence to make that move. Have you tried talking to her about that?"

"I… I… haven't really done that."

"Hmm, is it because you think it will make you feel uncool?" She said with narrow eyes.

"Maybe…" The redhead's face turned into an even brighter shade of red.

"Oh, Uzume. Look. Maybe that's what's stopping you."

"Huh?!"

"You feel like you're limiting her, but you're also limiting yourself and that's the main problem you need to fix in order to fix the other," said Noire with an all-knowing smirk forming across her lips.

"You lost me."

"Fine, let me ask you this… is your other problem the fact that you try to suppress your HDD personality around her?"

"Ah!" Cried Uzume to the point that she almost lost her balance.

"I see it now. Uzume, I would be shocked if you managed to keep that in check, especially around someone that you live with. I can already feel that it's not a question about her liking that personality, but you thinking it's uncool to be showing that. That personality that you have is pretty endearing, to say the least. Why don't you show that more to her?"

"Why? It… it's… uncool and I would die of embarrassment!"

"But, I believe that your two problems can help each other out. You can't push yourself to be the one to engage in a passionate night, and she won't do anything because she's waiting to see a clear sign from you. Why don't you embrace that kind, lovable, and goofy personality to express your deep feelings to her? Ask her that it's okay for her to make the first move—give her that option."

"But… but…"

"Uzume, you won't get anywhere by sticking to that cool personality of yours. Show her that side that you try to suppress, and it will help you convey your feelings."

"How can you know for sure?!" Shouted the CPU of Ultra Leanbox.

"Because back then, I too couldn't move past my feelings. We're a lot alike, you and I. But I owe all the change to Neptune, especially that night when we got married." The room started to grow hazy, as Noire thought back to a pivotal moment in her life where Neptune took the wheel for the sake of both of them.

 **(Flashback)**

This event started on the night that Neptune and Noire had married. They were staying in a fancy hotel in Planeptune after recently getting married. They were just dropped off by a fancy limo with words, 'Just Married' written on the back. This hotel was going to be the place that they would spend their honeymoon in and it was quite the fancy one among the fanciest of hotels with its appearance being akin to a giant white castle eternally standing like a radiant landmark of beauty that made all other buildings around it look horrible in comparison even though they had their own beauty. After going through reception and all the busy work, the married CPU couple swung the door open to their hotel room with the black-haired girl holding onto her wife in a bridal style.

"We finally arrived!" Came the happy shouts of Neptune. They were both dressed in white wedding dresses that were indeed a sight to see for anyone staying in the hotel on that fateful starry night.

"Oh, finally, my arms are starting to hurt," said Noire who was performing a difficult task of holding her wife and making sure she didn't trip on her own wedding dress.

"Sorry, honey. I tried staying off the pudding so that I could weigh less. In honesty, if I was the taller one, I would have done the lifting," said Neptune with a smile.

"Well, it was my decision to keep our HDDs out of the equation. I want this night to be ruled by our emotions as humans, and not as goddesses," proclaimed Noire.

"A strange idea, but also romantic, my Nowa. But regardless, our love for one another doesn't change."

The room that they had was breathtaking on a grand scale with petals of lilac and roses spread out on a circular shaped bed. There was also a metal bucket on a nightstand that had ice surrounding a large bottle of the finest root beer, which was one of Noire's favorites in terms of drink. There were also some glass cups next to the bucket.

Noire just looking at the bed, could feel her skin turn cold all over that made her feel hollow inside. Her heart even felt that it could turn inside out at the moment's notice. She exhaled her breath and calmed her nerves before looking back at her wife. "It's a matter of principle. I want it like this," said Noire as she dropped her wife on the bed. After a short respite, the room grew quiet with Noire sitting on the bed and Neptune bouncing in place in the big springy bed that they had.

"Hmm, Noire, what you thinking?" Said Neptune with a stare to her wife.

Noire looked back at her wife and gave her a warm smile. "I'm just going through some motions, but let's not worry about those. I'm happy… I'm with you… and we're finally one," she leaned in to kiss Neptune with all the passion that she could muster.

Neptune was in no way against that as she made light moans of approval and her using her hands to place them on Noire's beautiful head of hair. In this action, she removed her wife's accessories that kept her hair in those twin-tails as she opened one eye to see her hair flow down.

It was only after a few moments later when their hands were roaming their significant other, that Noire started to flinch and pull away. "Huh?" Said Neptune.

Her wife's face turned into one of remorse as she moved away to the edge of the bed with her face buried in her hands. "Neptune… I'm sorry. My face… it's burning red with embarrassment and anxiety," proclaimed Noire with an uneven tone in her voice. She hated how these unwanted actions were ruling her heart from what it deeply wanted.

"H-Hey…"

"—ugh! What is wrong with me. I want this, Neptune. I really do. And I had this whole night planned out from the start, but my hands won't stop shaking, and my face is sweating with nervousness." Noire was not downplaying anything because she did look like she was fighting with herself about making any more actions.

Neptune, with her wedding dress dragging across the bed, placed her arms around her wife from behind. "My sweet, Nowa. This is our first time, and it's okay to feel this scared."

"—NO! I… I should be more than this. I should be ready to follow my feelings—to follow my heart! And I have to be the one to…" Her words were silenced when Neptune gently turned her head to kiss her on the lips tenderly. The kiss soon parted with Noire staring at Neptune with wide eyes and feeling more relaxed. Just the feel of her wife's aura had put her in a state that, as long as she kept smiling at her, nothing could hurt her.

"Some things won't change about you, and I'm happy for that. Those are the things that I super love about you. How you cutely think that you should be the one to undertake every burden, along with every action, and how it's your duty to be able to do everything. You're amazing for that, honey. You cook, you sew, you know how to manage money, and responsibilities—you do so many things that make you the best. So, let me be the one to make the first move." The purple-haired girl gently pushed the black-haired girl on her back as she climbed on top of her with her looming aura still in effect. This aura was nothing special and was merely the natural radiance of her wife. To her and only her, this aura was priceless beyond compare.

"N-Neptune…"

"Shhh… just tell me that you want this."

Noire's heart ached with burning passion and relief. At that moment, she felt weightless for she never met a challenge that she could not overcome. Being the one that was not in control of their first time was liberating for her. "Neptune… yes, please be gentle. And I do want this so bad. I wouldn't want anyone else as my first—only you."

A smile had appeared on Neptune's face and no more words were needed as Neptune took the lead for the girl that could do everything.

 **(End Flashback)**

"… and that's how it was for our first time," said Noire with a finger on her lip and an intense blush that she was okay with since the point of the story was to help out Uzume.

"W-Wow… that's really sweet," said Uzume.

"Yes, well, I told you this story because it relates a lot to you," said Noire.

"Me?"

"Yes, you keep your sunny personality in check because you find it uncool, especially when it appears when your wife is around. However, that is the only way you can overcome this since that 'cool' personality isn't getting you anywhere. Some humility will help you get your feelings across instead of trying to play it cool and forcing yourself to make an unattainable move with that mindset."

"Mindset? But…"

"—no buts! You and I are the same. I had my characteristic pride and stubbornness telling me that the only way for us to have that passionate night was for me to make the first move. I couldn't do that with that mindset, and thus, Neptune took over. It should have always been that way because she is my other half and is allowed that right. Your mindset is being cool and feeling that you have to be the strong one in the relationship to make what you two have both been doing ever since you joined with her. This… this relationship that is forced to work backward for the sake of both of you—the mindset that you are the only one that is allowed to make what you both have real. You two live together, you have a nation together, you love each other, and you're both realizing that this gamble that you both made is working out, but what's the point of working as a married couple and having all the rights to that idea when you both haven't expressed your love in the deep level that is essential?"

"Noire…"

"Uzume, it's okay to feel like you are the one that needs help. You have a wife that is capable of her supporting you just like you are supporting her."

Tears had started to show on Uzume's face as she took in a big amount of air. This clarity had opened her eyes to how blind and narrow she had been. "V-Ve-Vertsy! I really really love you! And… And… I'm such a wimp for not being able to tell you and be the one to take the lead, so… so, be gentle with me!" Said Uzume with her Orange Heart voice beautifully breaking out.

"Umm…?" Saying that Noire had a sweatdrop forming would be an understatement. She forced herself to smile at Uzume with an encouraging nod of approval. "That… is basically the main points you should tell her, but don't—never mind actually. Speak from your heart and tell her that you want her to make the first move," said the CPU of Nepstation.

"R-Right, thanks a lot, Noire. To be honest, I never would have figured you to be the one to give me advice like this," said Uzume passed her blushing face.

"Of course, when you are the elder in the ways of marriage it's only natural to help out those who walk the same path as you," said Noire rather boastful.

"Hehe, well… technically, I'm the elder and didn't we both get married around the same time?"

"I guess those were just empty words on my part," laughed Noire carefreely

"Not at all. You and Neptune are the embodiment of a perfect couple and you both had a relationship in one form or another form the very start. I'm happy to call you my elder in terms of marriage. And… I want you to give me advice when I ever find myself lost," said Uzume.

"How can I say no? Let's take a break and have a snack," said Noire after hearing her stomach rumbling.

"I can go for a bite to eat," said the happy redhead.

With that as their goal, they made their way out of the room and into the hallway. "… ironically enough, when we conceived our baby, it was actually the first time that I took the lead. I was in my HDD and that confidence I felt was amazing. It made me happy that I was able to match Neptune's resolve in that department."

That statement had turned something on in the redhead's brain. "Huh? I think that's what I could do. Our HDDs are our true selves, so they would be the most honest about our feelings."

"You could see it that way, but whatever helps you out the most. If I may say this, you have the same emotions that you have in HDD, but you pushed them away for the greater good of building yourself up as a dependable leader when you were stuck in Zero dimension. You ended up creating a whole other personality for that reason, so find a way to channel your sunny personality more into your base form since you should save the best for later."

Uzume's cheeks grew red from the fact that Noire had stated a trait of hers that she had from her time in Zero. To her, the persona that she created for her base form was one that she would never regret, but she did get shy when people would compare the two. "Umm, best for later?" She decided to focus on the later advice that her friend said.

"Yes, being passionate while in HDD is a whole other level and I recommend you start in your base form to help iron out the conflicted sunny and cool emotions that you have while in base form. That way, you both can feel comfortable in any form."

"T-Thanks for that advice," said Uzume.

They made it to the living room. "Where's Neptune?" Said Noire after sensing that it was being too quiet for her liking.

"Maybe out in the balcony?" Replied Uzume.

They moved towards the balcony, and right there, they spotted Uni and Purple Heart talking to each other.

"Hey, when did you get here, Uni?" Said the older tsun sister.

Both Uni and Purple Heart tensed up at hearing Noire's voice, and they turned their heads at the open door where the two CPU painters were at. "Umm… hey, there, big sis. I just dropped by to see how Neptune was doing."

"Y-Yes, she even made tea," said Purple Heart with a gaze that was avoiding her wife.

Noire, having a keen eye on how her wife acts, saw that something was up. "Really, and there's nothing else to that story?" She said with a skeptical eyebrow raise. She could see that both had remained quiet on the question, which did not help them remove this uneasy feeling that had manifested. She closed her eyes wondering if she should ignore this feeling and give them some benefit of the doubt. She moved forward on impulse.

"Noire, wait!" Shouted the little sister of Noire, and the pregnant CPU.

It was too late. Noire had locked onto the bucket of chicken that was conveniently covered up by her wife blocking out of sight from the direction that they had come from. "What's this?" Said Noire with her eyes locked onto her wife.

"Well, you see…" Purple Heart's cheeks were a rosy red and her palms were sweaty, but she was going to come clean.

"—I brought it, big sis," shouted Uni from her chair.

"Uni?" Said Purple Heart with a gasp.

"I wanted to thank Neptune for giving me her blessing to marry Nepgear that I brought some chicken so that we may all share," said Uni with her face as steadfast and determined.

The pregnant CPU looked at Uni with shocked eyes because she was under the idea that they were going to tell her the whole truth, but one look from Uni's face told her that she was taking her gamble.

Noire looked at her sister and back at the chicken, then she looked at her wife. "Is this true?"

"It's a short summary, but she did leave out the part that I made a deal with her that in exchange for my blessing, she would get me something to eat," said Purple Heart. In the end, she knew that if she shifted all the blame to Uni, the guilt would be equal to her lying to her wife.

"You WHAT!" The whole balcony shot up in an uproar that could have been heard from the people walking down in the street level.

Uni let out a big sigh. At least she gave it a sly try to cushion the blow a bit. But then again, it looks even worse when you tell a half lie only to then tell the full truth.

Sister please…" said Uni trying to get her sister's attention.

"—No! Neptune, you used my sister and made a deal to give her your blessing in exchange for chicken?! Even though you would have freely given her that, to begin with!"

Purple Heart felt like she was staring down the eye of a storm and could do nothing but face the destructive nature of it. "I feel awful, and I understand if you feel angry about my actions. I just felt starved of food since you filled the whole house with foods that couldn't fill my hunger. I wasn't thinking right, and I made a devilish deal with Uni. For that, I am sorry, Noire. Please, don't hate Uni for her trying to defend me. I am telling you this because I feel wrong to lie to you, even if it's only a half lie."

Noire had her arms crossed with a stern pout. What was she feeling? Inside, she felt like she was being taken for a fool, funny enough because she was close to believing her sister's story. She couldn't say that she felt betrayed for this felt like a small lie that wasn't earth-shattering. On a more precise look, she felt madder at the fact that her little sister was used in a nefarious plan to get her wife some chicken in exchange for her blessing. How insidious of a plan, she thought more like a statement than a question.

Like a scale, she started to weigh her reaction to find out what would be the most appropriate. She can't be overly mad at her wife since she's pregnant and she doesn't want to pile stress on her.

She did tell her the truth, so there is that, and she can admire that she is conscious of her evil acts.

She should be mad because she used Uni, but then again, Uni took the wheel and defended her regardless, so there was a fault in her sister for that since she should have been honest like her wife was.

All this thought in her head started to give her a headache that she decided to shut them all off and explore another issue that had just manifested. "You said that my food couldn't fill your hunger?" Proclaimed Noire with a serious look toward her wife.

All the other CPUs felt slightly unbalanced at the statement that emerged from all the other ones. Even Purple Heart had dried up her tears to look at her wife with disbelieve. "I… I… what I meant was that with these cravings, my taste leans more for junk-type food like chicken and sweets. I know that they're unhealthy, but I couldn't help it," said Purple Heart.

"Neptune, that hunger of yours got the better of you, and I do feel mad at you, however, it's not going to do any of us any good."

"It isn't?"

Noire stomped the ground in a show of expression to both her frustration and her also using that to snuff out any lingering anger. "No, you big hopeless foody. You're my hopeless after all, and I'm not surprised to see something like this even if you're in HDD. Your shenanigans will always pop up and I'm prepared for that always. What I do find redeeming from all this deceit, is that you told me the truth while it was tempting to settle with Uni's wrist slap of an excuse. To shoulder all the blame was noble of you," said Noire acting all uninterested.

Purple Heart's eyes started to grow with tears of joy for the fact that her wife had forgiven her. "Oh, Noire!" She got up from the chair as fast as she could with her mobility starting to slow down because of the baby, and hugged her wife.

"N-Neptune! I'm covered in paint!" Said Noire in a frantic blush.

"I don't care," said Purple Heart sweetly.

Since it would have been a waste to throw away the remaining chicken, Noire and Uzume had some for their break. All in all, the tension among the CPUs was starting to be calmer now. That was until Purple Heart started gasping for air.

"Neptune, what's wrong?" Said her wife who had just finished eating to look at her wife who was holding onto her chest.

"I… don't know. It feels hard to breathe, and my chest is hurting," said the pregnant CPU.

"Your chest is hurting!?" Shouted the other CPUs with anxiety to what that could be mean.

"It… hurts, Noire," proclaimed Purple Heart looking like she was struggling for air.

Noire didn't panic or hesitate in the slightest. She transformed into her HDD and picked up her wife. "Uni! Uzume! I'm taking Neptune to the hospital! Call Nepgear, and Histoire right away!" Shouted the serious CPU as she blasted into the sky leaving the others behind.

Time had transitioned quickly, but for Black Heart, she felt like it was moving too slow for her liking. She might have been flying at full speed, but the sight of her wife with eyes shut in pain, and her holding her chest was like endless stabs to her own heart. She wondered how severe this was since they were both linked together with one life for each other and if one of them died, then so would the other. For now, she wasn't feeling any physical pain, but more like emotional anguish from seeing her purple-haired wife in a never-ending cycle of pain.

They then reached the hospital and Purple Heart was quickly sent to a room to further analyze the situation.

Noire was pacing back and forth as they both waited for the doctor to come in. She continued to hear her wife's groans of pain making her run to her side.

Her wife was resting on a bed with tears in her eyes. "N-Noire, what's going to happen to the baby?"

Noire did not know what to say as she looked away in pain thinking about the worst-case scenario. "It's going to be fine," said Noire.

"—What if it's a heart attack!?"

"Neptune, it can't be a heart attack… j-just think positive."

"H-How can I when my baby's life could be in danger?!" Shouted Purple Heart who did feel bad at yelling at her wife.

The door opened causing both to turn their heads, but sadly, it was Uni, Nepgear, Uzume, and Histoire. "Neptune!" Shouted Nepgear who wildly ran into the room acting very frantic.

"Sister, are you alright? What's happening? Is the baby okay?" Were the persisting questions that did not help her older sister at all, since she too had those sorrowful thoughts.

"I don't know," said Purple Heart between breaths. For here, the room felt hot and it was becoming harder to breathe.

"Nepgear, you must relax. The doctors will take care of Neptune and for the moment, we should try to not stress her," said Histoire with a small hand on Nepgear's shoulder.

Uzume also helped to comfort the candidate with her cool front of an attitude being very desired at the moment for the weeping candidate who needed strong comfort.

Uni didn't say anything as she looked to her sister who merely gave her a look that she didn't know what to do.

Thankfully, the door swung open to reveal, Dr. Cardian who had quickly become Purple Heart's assigned doctor when her mentor had decided that this would be a good introductory for her to start doing solo work without oversight. Dr. Alison Brier, which was Dr. Lailah Cardian's mentor had no doubts that she was ready and since she had her plate full with patients, she wanted her goddess to have a doctor without divided attention to other patients.

"Hello! How's my number one patient doing? Then again… you are my only patient," said Dr. Cardian with a humble smile to lighten the tension in the room. She adjusted her glasses to see Noire and everyone else looking at her with sad faces. "Oh, Lady Noire—you look like a regular Nepcasso," said the doctor which was a playful jab to a famous Planeptune painter that went by that name both as an alias and a respectful admiration and honor to their favorite goddess.

"Cardian! The greeting can wait for later, please hurry and tend to my wife!" Shouted Noire in a hysterical shout causing the doctor to flinch in panic and look at her clipboard. "R-Right, Let's see… chest pains? My lady, do you feel any other pain around your body other than your chest?" Asked the doctor who quickly changed into a more serious and professional tone as she inspected her patient.

"N-No…" said Purple Heart.

Okay, then let's begin." She ran a few small tests on Purple Heart and after a short while later. She folded her arms to think deeply about something.

"D-Doctor… please tell me what's wrong with me. Is it a heart attack?" Said Purple Heart.

The blue-haired doctor sadly did not have the time to answer as she was grabbed by her coat by Noire who was out of the realm of rational thinking with the thought that her wife could be having a heart attack.

"Doctor! It's a heart attack, isn't it? This is because of all that chicken she ate, right? Don't you think you should be more alert instead of just thinking?!" Shouted Noire while at the same time, shaking the doctor like a rag doll until she started to see stars around her head.

"L-Lady Noire—it's not a h-heart attaaack! It's merely heartburn…" said the woozy poor doctor who was caught by Uzume to help her keep her footing.

"H-Heart… burn?" Said the pregnant CPU with a small blush.

"Y-Yes, nothing to fear I promise you that. Heartburn can be common during pregnancy since the uterus rises into the abdomen causing heartburn," explained Dr. Cardian while she was still feeling light-headed from being handled so roughly by Noire.

"She's going to be okay?" Asked Noire who now felt ashamed at handling the good doctor so poorly.

"Indeed… I am unaware of this chicken but this is a cause of what I just said. The heartburn might feel horrible but it should subside."

"How can you be for certain?" Asked Nepgear.

"Well, a heart attack is much more direct and happens rather quickly with severe effects kicking in right away. She told me that she was feeling pain only in her chest. While a heart attack does share that in common with heartburn, a heart attack is defined rather quickly if you feel pain in your arms, and it also spreads to the neck, jaw, and back," said the doctor with a happy smile on her face.

This caused all the CPUs to let out a large exhale of relief from that.

"Umm, Dr. Cardian… forgive me for being so harsh on you!" Shouted Noire with a light bow to the doctor.

"Oh my, y-you don't need to bow, my lady. It's partly my fault. I was being a little too carefree knowing that my patient wasn't in any danger. And I'm truly sorry for keeping you all in that state longer than it was required," said the doctor who also gave a bow. She felt a gentle hand from the bed that turned out to be her patient.

"Thank you, Dr. Cardian. While I still have this pain in my chest, it's wonderful to know that my baby is safe," said Purple Heart with so much compassion that it was hard for the doctor to not smile warmly at her patient.

"These things happen and that's why I am always here for whatever might arise—I guarantee that to you, my lady. Now, what's this about chicken?" Her curiosity got the best of her, and this made Noire and Purple Heart look shy on the subject.

A few minutes went by when Dr. Cardian let out a light chuckle. "Oh, my. Did you eat that many pieces of fry chicken? And you, Lady Noire, thought that that might have been the cause for her chest pain?"

"W-Well, she ate a lot of chicken. It was only natural to think that way," said Noire with a red face.

"While it may be good grounds to think that way, all of Lady Neptune's health test taken in the past have shown that she is as healthy as a horsebird—better than that if I have to be honest."

"It's rare for CPUs to get sick or be unhealthy. It can happen, but it takes work to get that way," said Histoire.

"Very true, Lady Histoire. Of course, Lady Neptune's pregnancy has had unique effects on her body that have neutralized certain benefits from her HDD. She has shown signs of being nauseous and vomiting. It wouldn't be crazy to think that she could get sick more easily, or consider that her eating junk food might not be a bad thing," said the doctor with a strained face.

"Umm, you lost me there," said Purple Heart.

"Eh, it's too many unknowns I'm afraid. What matters is that your health has not changed regardless of any overeating. Those cravings can be vicious while pregnant, and while contrary to popular belief, pregnant women shouldn't overeat."

"Really? And here I thought that pregnant women got a free pass to eat whenever they wanted," said Uzume.

This caused Dr. Cardian to give her a stern look. "Yes, very. Overeating can lead to risks like low IQ for the baby, and also development in eating disorders and psychosis for their little one."

"Ahh!" Came the shouts of Purple Heart and Noire who looked stricken with fear.

"B-But, Lady Neptune, you have no signs of any of those issues and they have more to do with human women with a goddess being a different story. I do want to take a few blood samples along with other tests to verify your health currently. I am more than confident that while you may experience symptoms like intense nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and even intense heartburn than the normal pregnant woman, your body is incredibly resilient to any long term negative effects related to health and pregnancy."

"That's good piece of mind. Please do the tests and I would rather follow regular procedures than take a gamble—for the baby's sake," said the pregnant mother to be with a hand on her stomach.

"Of course, my lady!"

While she worked on the test she gathered for later analysis, Noire moved close to her wife seeing that she was still lost in thought about what the doctor said. "Neptune, it's going to be alright. I do believe that the doctor's theories are to be true, also Croire did tell us that for CPU babies, they require share energy and lots of food, right?"

"T-That's true. I want to talk to her about this. In the past, she had only provided us with small details, but no more. I want her to tell me all the ins and outs about what it means to be a CPU that is pregnant."

Noire could see the unmovable resolve in her wife's eyes and she knew that she couldn't say anything to deter her from this mindset.

After that, Dr. Cardian had rubbed some gel in Purple Heart's stomach as they soon got ready to see how the baby looked like and how she was doing. "Are you excited to see how your baby is doing?" Said the good doctor.

"Yes, please proceed, Doctor. This will be the first time that I have done this and I'm eagerly excited," said Purple Heart.

Everyone glued their faces at the screen that was on the wall that connected to the device that the doctor was using to smear the gel on the pregnant CPU's stomach.

"Ah, well look what we have here," said Dr. Cardian.

A wave of gasps had been created in the room as the CPUs got their first look at the daughter of Purple Heart.

On the screen, what could be made out was an outline of a fetus with a clear body outline that definitely looked human, but the head did look a little morphed.

"That's… my baby girl," said Purple Heart with a deep gasp of air as she forced herself to not cry in joy. Even Noire looked like she was forcing herself too as she felt many emotions like joy, pride, and surprise.

"S-She's amazing," said Noire.

"She sure is, but I can't help but be a little spooked by the head," said Uzume with a timid voice when she voiced out her thoughts that were exactly what Uni and Nepgear were thinking.

Dr. Cardian chuckled lightly before the future CPU parents could say anything in defense. "It's only part of the process of the miracle of creation. Such magic happens in this timeframe when the baby goes through so many changes. She should be around five to six inches, and weigh about four ounces."

"That's really tiny!" Shouted Nepgear.

"Right?! The head should be going through final changes if not done already, and the heart is all there now! Lungs could still be developing and the eyes are still closed. The cutest thing yet is that she might start feeling the urge to suck around this time."

"S-Suck what?!" Said the candidates with confusion.

"Huh? Why… her thumbs of course," said the doctor.

This earned a light laugh from the candidates as they looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

"Now, Lady Neptune, you are very much in the clear at the moment with your baby looking in perfect health. Just out of curiosity, have you come up with any names for the little one?" Said Dr. Cardian.

Everyone held in a breath to see what Purple Heart would say. Noire was aware that her wife had a name already thought of, but she hadn't even talked to her about it yet.

Purple Heart paused for a second as if mulling around the answer. She then looked at the doctor with a confident smile, and then a hopeful look at her wife. "Yes, I do. This might sound odd, but the name that I really loved when I thought about it was Euri."

"Euri?"

Purple Heart suppressed the shocks from everyone else as she was unmovable about the name. "Yes, it's a short nickname for Europa," said the happy CPU with so much love for how it sounded out loud.

 **Another chapter done! I wanted to bring this one out earlier but life was getting in the way. Hate to leave the ending on a cliffhanger, but it's all part of the plan, and I will go into detail as to why Neptune picked out that name. For me, I thought about the name for a while and found this one to be a cute and a reasonable fit. Once again, thank you all for reading and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	5. Teach me Crostie!

**Chapter 5: Teach me Crostie!**

Another month had gone by in the land of Gamindustri with our CPU main characters living their lives while also preparing for the arrival of their daughter. They were more than half of the way through this process that gears were rolling to get all the essentials that they needed. "So, what do you both want to know?" Asked Croire as she eyed the food of noodles and beef covered over a deliciously smelling sauce.

She was at the grand Nepstation mall of the south that was once known as Planeptune's grand mall. Her companions were none other than Purple Heart and Noire who had been sitting across from her with silent looks.

"We asked you here today because we wanted to get some answers about certain issues that relate with all things related to the pregnancy," said Noire who, in the attempt to remain focused, she hadn't taken a bit of food from her plate yet. She couldn't say the same thing for her wife who, while silently, was eating her noodles without a pause, and only giving looks to Croire when Noire would reach an important topic.

"Hmm, what… really? What could you two possibly need to know this far into the pregnancy? You two seem to be doing really well—all things considered," said the fairy with her small fork twirling the noodles around.

Noire could agree with that. Yes, they had been able to learn and gather knowledge about the things to come from the pregnancy, but they still felt confused about how this all really came to be. "Well… we wanted to go down a list about a few things."

"Ugh, if we really must, then please, tell me what troubles you two nitwits," remarked Croire with a smirk.

Noire furrowed her brow at the rude comment. "I'm going to let that slide. Now, what is the first one, Neptune?"

Purple Heart jumped into action after slurping a noodle she had and grabbed a notebook with her questions already on it. "The first one is related to health. Taking into account all procedures that regular pregnant women go through, like exercise and eating healthy… does it still apply to pregnant CPUs to follow those things? You did mention that a CPU tends to eat a lot during the craving period."

"I did say that. Although… you realize that I'm not a doctor—much less a CPU doctor at that, so this isn't my place to say anything," said Croire.

"Don't tight lip with us! All that we are asking is that you tell us what you know at least. You've seen this process happen to many others, right?" Said the black-haired tsun.

"Well, yeah. Eh, fine. My personal knowledge, you can eat whatever you want, and it still won't hurt the baby. The share energy that is being directed to your baby is also healing her if need be, and nothing short of physical trauma will hurt your baby, so don't go tripping on your stomach there," said Croire with her dark humor showing.

"That's… good to hear," said the purple-haired mom-to-be. She did fine Croire's joke to be in bad taste, but let it slide.

"Sure is. Your body is the one that is going through intense strain since the baby is taking all your share energy while it replaces that with its own existence and uses its existence to keep your body from falling apart. I mean, come on, the fatigue, vomiting, mood swings, and nausea? That baby sure is keeping you together with all the tape and glue showing," said Croire with a laugh.

"Her name is Euri!" Said Noire with her tone piercing Croire making the fairy to halt her laugh.

"E-Euri? What kind of name is that?"

"It's short for Europa," said Purple Heart who couldn't help but warmly smile at the name.

"Euro—Euro… e—euro… pa…? Ugh! That name is too hard to pronounce!" Shouted Croire loudly enough to make a few others eating nearby to look over to her direction.

Even though Noire would defend that name for the happiness of her wife, she couldn't help but sigh at the fact that that being a major one of people's complaints. Uni and Nepgear had the trouble of saying it with Histoire, her wife, and her being some of the few that could say it. Even Compa and IF couldn't say it.

Next to her, her wife's warm smile had turned into a beaming one that could have been closely mistaken to her base form's smile with how full of playful confidence it had. It was also better reinforced with the fact that her wife's hair was short like her hair in her base form. "That's the point. It's just like my name with how not that many people can say Neptune, so I knew that it would be fitting to give my daughter a name like that," said Purple Heart.

"Hmm, why would you even subject your unborn daughter to a fate like that?" Said Croire.

"It builds character and people will have the option of calling her Euri," said Purple Heart.

"Can I call her Euro or Europi?" Asked Croire with an actual level of curiosity to the answer.

"No!" Shouted both of the future CPU parents.

Whatever," she paused for a second, then she started to chuckle slightly. "Wow, that name has brought out an old memory from my records."

"Records?" Asked Noire.

"Yeah, from my time exploring other dimensions. I once met some foreign individual with a name like that. That name means 'rain' and 'blue majestic bird' in some irrelevant dimension that holds no meaning here. Of course, for here, you could technically make it mean anything you want with how odd it is."

"Rain and blue majestic bird… I love that meaning behind it!" Proclaimed Purple Heart with a soft giggle of joy.

"I'm sure you do. But that full name, now that one is the funniest. I'm surprised Noire let you get away with that." Croire shifted her eyebrows up and down at Purple Heart who looked away in mild guilt.

It didn't take that long for Noire to look between them with a clueless expression. "Why are you surprised!?"

"Huh? You actually don't know?" Asked Croire.

"No! Neptune, what's going on?" Stated Noire with a pout to her wife for being left out of the loop.

Croire shook her head with a large sigh. "Ugh… with the level of knowledge I'm forced to spew out, might as well give me a show called teach me Crostie." Somewhere out in Nepstation, Histoire had sneezed loudly causing some documents to fall on the floor.

Back to Croire. "If you really are clueless then fine. Europa is an already established term related to space and astronomy. It's similar to your wife's name, Neptune which is a planet. You do know that, much don't you?"

Noire started to blush since, for the girl that could do anything, she couldn't tell you that much about astronomy and space in general. "I… I know that! I know that Neptune's name also means a planet. That's why in the past when we were nothing but rivals I told her that if she keeps eating, then she might as well become a planet with her own gravitational pull," said Noire who did not put much thought into her words.

"That's true, of course now, I might as well have my own pull," said the pregnant CPU who gently rubbed her stomach with a mixed expression of a hurt and happy smile, since she couldn't blame her large size at just weight gain.

"Ahh! Honey, I didn't mean anything by that. You're still perfect and amazing!" Shouted Noire in an attempt to cheer up her wife.

"It's fine. I'm not hurt by that," said Purple Heart.

"Careful there. You might end up on the couch in the future," laughed Croire. "Back to what I was saying. You know planet names at least, right?"

"Well, of course. I'm going to be forthcoming with you. You got me good on astronomy since I find it irrelevant to have my eyes up in the sky while a CPU should be focused on their nation, their people, and video games," said Noire.

"What? Then… how… you have space games of all sorts. And you don't know that much about space!?" Said Croire.

Noire shot back with ferocity. "Why am I even telling you this?! You've been here long enough to record our history and dimension, or what? Did you miss that detail?" Said the black-haired girl with a smirk knowing that she had got Croire good.

"Come again?! I take my recording very seriously! B-But… damn. I'm afraid to say that even I don't know the origin of the knowledge I found out about this dimension's space. All the info was in an old book that I read once."

"Was it from Lowee?" Asked Purple Heart.

"Y-Yes…" Said Croire.

Noire then folded her arms with a level of triumph. "Then there. That's the origin of the knowledge. Lowee or the Northern part of Boxwee are the ones who explored space with the help of their high-powered telescopes and magic in conjunction. They were the first ones to make space games and books about space that became free knowledge for the rest of us to use later down the road. All the info needed to build a space game was grabbed from them, but… I didn't really have the time to read freely for my own uses. That was left for my team and developers to do for me—I did have a nation to run!" Said Noire knowing that she was trying too hard to excuse herself that a small blush had shown regardless.

"Sounds like a poor excuse. I bet Blanc knows all about space," said Croire.

"I… I… w-wouldn't be surprised! Now, what does this have to do with the original topic!? I know my planet names but Europa—I've never heard before."

"That's because it's not a planet. It's more of a moon much like our own in the sky at night. The thing about this moon is that it's an icy subzero mass of cold and ice as far as the eye can see. Nothing but pure cold and ice exists there," said Croire.

The synapses in the black-haired girl's mind fired up that let her instantly connect the context of what was said. "N-Neptune… d-did you pick that name out knowing that it was a reference to that icy moon?"

Her wife looked everywhere except her wife as she played with her thumbs.

"Neptune!"

"Y-Yes. It was part of the reason why I picked it," said Purple Heart.

"So, what? You expect our little girl to be… to be… a tsundere? That's the reason that you picked it because it's cold, right?" Said Noire feeling more hurt instead of being angry.

"Noire, I figured it was an innocent name to describe both of us in a playful way that would become our daughter's name. I have told you that your tsun personality is something that made me fall in love with you and how you cutely act all cold when you try to deflect anything that might make you shy or blush. If our daughter had that trait, then it would not keep me from loving her to my heart's content. In fact, the thought of a little Noire running around would be too perfect," said her wife with noticeable hearts in her eyes.

Croire didn't even have the heart to burst that bubble with her chewing her food more slowly while she looked down at her plate.

Noire's face was red with embarrassment, however, her heart wanted to burst at the wonderfully sweet confession that her wife told her. "I… I… I would rather much have a little one like you running around. One that would always get in trouble and I would be forced to worry about, and one that would make every day an adventure in itself," proclaimed Noire while she held onto her wife's hand with so much passion oozing from her.

Purple Heart laughed softly and nodded at her. "Then may she be the best of both of us," said Purple Heart.

"That sounds like a tall order, but I too will wish that," said Noire.

"A Tsundere with a heart of gold, wow, that is a tall order," said Croire after finishing her meal.

There were no shadows that covered Purple Heart's whimsical dreams as it could clearly be seen in her eyes with how certain she was. "Who knows, but let's not play personality favorites with our unborn daughter. Whoever she decides to become, we will love her no differently. The name is still perfect because not only does it represent a cold, yet hauntedly beautiful vacant moon, it also works with me with my name being related to a planet."

"She has a point… it's very spacey like your wife," said Croire with her voice sounding slightly helpful and maybe there wasn't a double meaning there. "However, Europa is a moon of Jupiter. Sadly, your name isn't Jupiter or else it would have been a perfect match," said Croire.

Purple Heart had to turn her head to see the small fairy with a slightly twitchy eye. "That did occur to me, but regardless, the name is pouring with wonderful references from you and I to rain, and bluebirds. Noire, do you still like the name?"

"Is this really the perfect name that you want?" Asked Noire after giving it some thought.

"Yes, when I read up on it, I found a moon named Triton around the planet Neptune, but that name was not adorable to me, but then I saw Europa and knew that this was the perfect name."

Noire folded her arms and moved her head closer to her wife to keep laying more facts on her. "People might have a hard time pronouncing it…"

"—then let them struggle. It will build character for our daughter to have a unique name like that."

After a long stare at her beloved pregnant wife, she could see that she wasn't faltering in the slightest. "Then, yes. Europa and in that effect, Euri, will be the perfect name for our daughter," said Noire with a happy sigh for she was indeed okay with this name. Her goal was to sound cool and reluctant while she gave her permission, but that was thrown out the window when her wife kissed her tenderly on the cheek that caused Noire to go red in the face.

"Ugh… think I'm going to be sick. That Euro—Euro… E… grr—that Euri kid is going to have it tough," said Croire with a sigh.

After the meal, they went back to the original reason as to why they were all here. While Noire and Purple Heart had been busy with life in general and were just now able to have the time to invite Croire over for some questions that they had on their minds, they also were here to shop for baby items here at the mall.

They reached the center of the mall that had an indoor water fountain. Near the stone structure that encased the surrounding area of the fountain, there was Ultra Neptune and Plutia who looked to be engaging in their own personal activities instead of interacting with each other. For Ultra Neptune, she was on her phone playing a game that had her attention hooked. For Plutia, she was fiddling with a button on her latest plush toy.

The sight of the two girls was a weary sight for the married couple of Nepstation and the little fairy. Regardless, they made their presence known.

"You two, we have returned," said Purple Heart with her smile truly genuine and warming to her two friends.

Both of the girls looked up with beaming faces as they were finally allowed to eject from this awkward time. "Oh, wow, you three took longer than expected," said Ultra Neptune with her friendly smile.

"Ah, sorry about that. We had quite a lot to discuss with Croire," said the pregnant CPU. She then heard a scoff come from the floating fairy.

"That was exactly the plan. At least this way, I could have enjoyed the free meal without you twos' tension saturating the air," remarked Croire silently that only Purple Heart could hear.

The pregnant CPU could understand since it was her idea for inviting her counterpart and the fairy to the mall for the day. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that Plutia had tagged along was up in the air. In the end, it was two birds with one stone—Purple Heart wanted to get friendly with Croire so that she could talk to her, which resulted in her buying the fairy a meal in the end. She also invited her counterpart since it's pretty much a package deal with those two and that was fine with her. Finally, she stumbled across Plutia when Noire and she were leaving the house, and Purple Heart did feel bad that it has been some time since they both spent time together, so she took Plutia with them when they met up with her counterpart and Croire at a later location.

She still gave Croire a look of disappointment for that comment she made, and then she looked at her wife, Noire, who remained silent to the whole ordeal. For her wife, it is what it is and she has no problem spending time with those two as long as they don't stress her wife.

Purple Heart would be lying if she said that she didn't find Noire's overprotective attitude to be very attractive. She did have to pause for a second to remove her blush that was appearing before she spoke to her two friends. "Now that we have all the important matters out of the way, let's get back on to the main track for why we came here today," said Purple Heart joyfully.

Her wife, Noire, placed a hand on her shoulder to grab her attention. "That's right, Neptune. We came here today to pick up maternity clothes for you. By the end of the day, I would like to have a large number of outfits all picked out, so let's get moving!"

Purple Heart agreed with the plans since she only realized today, that her clothes have been fitting her very tightly around her stomach. Earlier today, she looked at herself in the mirror to see that her bellybutton had turned inside out.

"Count me in, Neppy. I want to help you pick out the best ones in the whole store," said Plutia with her happy yet tired voice.

"So am I!" Stated Ultra Neptune trying to not be outdone by the Planeptune CPU of Ultra.

Croire darted her eyes back and forth, then she made a fake yawn. "Oh, man. Looks like you got all this in the bag. Think I'm going to hit the old books and take a nap—ah!" Too little, too late. Ultra Neptune linked an arm around her small body to make sure she didn't go anywhere. "Nah, you're not going anywhere, Crostie. Stay a bit and help us out—I'll be fun," said the purple-haired girl of Ultra Lastation. Although, it also sounded like she was pleading for her to stay while she maintained a cheery deposition.

"Do I have too?" Stated Croire bitterly.

"Yes, now let's get a move on!" Said Ultra Neptune while she linked her arm to Purple Heart's right arm while at the same time she denied Noire that action.

"Yes, lets," said Plutia who linked her arm to Purple Heart's left arm causing Noire to make a silent pout.

The first store they visited was one of a high-quality service designed for the little one that would soon grace the world. They had a wide arrange of baby clothes, maternity clothes, and even toys. Both of the soon to be CPU parents basked in the joyous sight of colorful designs and sounds that the store had to draw in attention.

"This place looks like a wonderland of baby stuff," cried Purple Heart with a burning passion to explore the depths of this new realm.

"OH! Neptune, they have cribs over there, too!" Said Noire who was in baby mode right now since the baby's room was already done—all they needed was to fill it with the baby essentials.

Due to the parents' high excitement, they quickly moved forward in a mad dash—well, more like Noire was moving fast as she held onto her wife to help her out since she started to waddle in stride from the baby getting bigger.

This left Plutia and Ultra Neptune in the dust with them forced to look at each other in shock. This didn't last long as they quickly kick-started their reasons for why they hated each other and spitefully turned their heads to the opposite direction.

A large sigh could have been heard by Croire who was in the middle of the two and all she could do was lower her elevation with a look that told people that she really did not want to be here.

Over to where the happy couple was, the dad to be, which was Noire—just don't tell her that in front of her—had pulled out a shirt from a rack with her eyes looking over it. "Try this one out, Neptune."

Purple Heart gazed at the shirt that her wife had picked out and immediately fell in love with it. The shirt was a pink long-sleeve one that was designed to be big at the bottom. "This looks perfect," said the purple-haired mother to be when she overlapped it over herself to see how it would look on her.

"Indeed, sweetie. It's going to be a lot more comfortable instead of that tight shirt you got on," said Noire who couldn't help but make a jab at her wife since she had a shirt that was obviously too tight and her bellybutton was partly showing.

"Ugh! Well, the sooner we get these finished the better," said Purple Heart who couldn't help but embarrassingly blush at her current shirt she had on. They would have done this sooner in her opinion but with these days, it felt like their free days were always wide apart.

"Neppy! I found another one!" Shouted Plutia across the store that made a few other mothers-to-be to turn their heads. Plutia didn't pay too much mind to them with her bolting toward her friend.

Purple Heart grew stars in her eyes at the sight of the funny picture on the shirt. The shirt itself, was purple, long sleeved, and had a wacky image of a baby's silhouette with a silhouette of a lamp shining down some light underneath the baby. The baby looked to be relaxing under the light, but what made it even more adorable was that that baby was eating what appeared to be an outline of a pudding cup.

"This one is adorable, Plutia," smiled Purple Heart who took it from her.

"Huh… I don't know what I would do if there were a lamp and a pudding cup inside my wife with the baby," stated Noire with a relaxed laugh.

"I wouldn't put it past her. She's going to love pudding when she gets her first taste," said Purple Heart with a tender hand on her belly.

"Wowie! Check this one out, little me," said the overjoyed voice of Ultra Neptune as she dashed toward them with hast. She showed them a purple and red long sleeve shirt that had stripes on it. "This one here is a fancy and sophisticated one that has enough class and elegance to express your maturity, little me," said Ultra Neptune with her face taking on a mighty glory.

"Oh, I do like that one, too," said the pregnant CPU. She especially liked how her counterpart had sold the shirt to her.

Noire, who had witnessed both of these displays from Ultra Neptune and Plutia, merely scoffed silently for she knew that they were playing with her wife to get into her good graces. She wasn't the only one that could see this end game of theirs. Croire had sneered close to Noire at the display.

"Your wife is being played like a fiddle. You can clearly see that they are silently fighting for dominance for Neptune's affection," said Croire.

"Hey, I'm staying out of this. As long as they don't stress out my wife. Besides, she's liking all this attention and those two need to find a resolution to their problems eventually… even if it might have a bad outcome," said the black-haired CPU.

"I can agree with you on that. I'm not a fan of that Plutia character after what she tried to do to my Neptune. Still… I'll take any outcome as long as she's safe."

Noire laughed softly at the words she heard. "Your Neptune? And here I thought that you didn't care about anyone but yourself," said Noire.

"Hey… hmm, I could say the same about you at one point in your life, but I guess we both changed. My Neptune is someone I hold dear—especially after becoming a CPU and joining with that… her significant other…" The amount of contempt in Croire's voice was indeed noticeable almost like a mother never fully approving her daughter's choice of partner. However, among her contempt, there was some level of acceptance—or more like a feeling similar to the phrase, 'it is what it is.'

Ironically enough, somewhere in Ultra Lastation, Ultra Noire had sneezed furiously as a response to someone talking about her.

Noire rolled her eyes at Croire feeling that she should be offended in some way, but let it slide.

Back to the rivals that were fighting for Neptune's affection. "She fines mine better," said Plutia with a tired pout coming from her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that shirt is a hoot, but this one is also too hard to pass. Just look at the refined design," stated the purple-haired girl of Ultra Lastation.

One could clearly see the electrical intense stare that they were giving each other. No doubt a raging wave of arguments would have soon been upon everyone in the baby store. Thankfully, Purple Heart stood between them with her happy aura calming both of them. "Now don't fight you two. I love both of them, so I'm going to get both of them," said the pregnant CPU with simple logic.

"That's great," said Plutia being happy regardless.

"Well, you can't go wrong with getting both," said Ultra Neptune as she took a page from Uzume and acted all cool and level-headed.

A short time later, Noire was looking at cribs by herself. She spotted one that was tall and black with a fine design from the wood that gave it a smooth feel. "Hmm, I always did fine cribs to be odd. They look like prison cells," commented the black-haired girl with her eyes scanning every each of the crib.

"That's the point," came a voice from behind.

Noire frowned for she knew who it was. "What do you mean by that?" Asked Noire to the fairy that was floating on her book.

"Babies can be the adventurous types. You put her down for a few seconds to do some other task and then she's gone as fast as her little hands and feet can take her," laughed Croire.

"Th-That's… as much as I would think that my daughter will be proper and obedient, her being the little handful would be nice, too," said Noire.

Croire laughed at the girl's desires. "You're not giving her that much credit. I'll find it hard to believe that she will only be proper and obedient like some dog since she's the daughter of Neptune and Noire—one who has endless playful energy to do outrageous things, and the other who would go out of her way to get everything done. I kinda see your daughter waking up one day and making breakfast for herself, but in the process, she makes a huge mess."

"Th-That does sound like something Neptune would do." Noire smiled fondly instead of having anger at the idea of her daughter trying to do more than she could chew. If she had that drive and determination, then she could do anything. "H-Hey… Croire… I know that share energy created our daughter but… but… what I'm trying to say is… will she really inhabit our traits that Neptune and I share?"

Croire was taken aback by this question and could see how hard it was for the girl to say it out loud. Maybe she had that thought for a while now. "Oh, that's right. I did leave out that small detail. Well, if you think that the share energy is the only thing that gave rise to your daughter than you need to remember that it was also due to the hidden wish that you both had at the moment. The passionate night was the ultimate action that sealed the deal, but the share energy that was also used at the time was the individual share energy that you but have," said Croire.

"What do you mean? Neptune and I have the same share energy now, don't we?"

"Yes, but at your very core, you still have the basic components that still define you as a Lastation CPU while Neptune has her own. Think of it as genetic material that separates you from other CPUs—even your sister has slightly different material since you both aren't the same person but are both Lastation CPUs. It sounds strange because you and Neptune both don't technically use that type of share energy anymore since you both married and now have unified share energy that you both share, but that personal share energy is still in your core. The only purpose it has now is to define you as what you once were—meaning a Lastation CPU and also to be used for the sole purpose of handing that over to any future offspring. That offspring will have the roots of the once known nations of Planeptune and Lastation. Do you understand? Not only did you use the high amounts of share energy that reside in the nation's Sharicite from the good deeds, but also the personal share energy that you once radiated as a single CPU ruler."

"R-Really?" Said Noire.

"Yes, a wish like wanting a baby is a powerful one. By that logic, in order for the wish to take reality, it also attained personal share energy from the very core of both of you, also meaning that it took genetic material at the same time.

"I see. So deep inside, our genetic material is linked to our old individual share energy. And when we wished for our daughter, we also transferred material along that served as a means to help the wish become real."

"Pretty much, so it goes to say that you are the father of your daughter since you impregnated Neptune with that miracle wish. Hehe, plus the material is entirely yours without making that excuse that… let say… Uni could be the father since you both share almost exact matches of material for you both being the origins of Lastation."

The black-haired girl staggered horribly from the words that were thrown at her like fire. "Y-You didn't need to put that thought into my head! That just sounds incredibly wrong! I was mostly thinking that our daughter was born from the people's share energy that they created on the spot and not the share energy that flows through us at the moment!"

"No, the people's share energy that gets stored in the sharicite was used to boost the success of the wish, and the passionate night was the thing that solidified the deal. Both your wish and the share energy that flows through you at the time—including the one in your core—were the last keys to this giant recipe. And that concludes another 'teach me, Croire!' lesson," said the fairy with a big smile.

"Hmph, these lessons feel like a tough pill to swallow… but I do get it at the end of the day. Hmm, the core of our energy… that makes sense thinking about it with how Neptune and I still maintained our color aura."

"Now you get it and you better remember that. It's not my fault that CPUs are so hard to understand. Even I got confused in my travels when I had to record you losers—you losers as in the CPU in general, not you… you are somewhat okay."

Despite all of Croire's rude manners, she did prove to be insightful and needed at times, which was needed to counter her attitude. Over the span of half an hour, the black-haired girl found lots of cute baby onesies. Her eyes landed across the store to see her wife in the middle of the two rival CPUs of Ultra. Those two were gripping a crib box with such intensity in their eyes.

A closer look on Purple Heart's face could see that she was maintaining a smile to her best of her abilities, but there was clearly a sweatdrop expression along with a slightly nervous look at the corner of her smile.

Noire sighed after she placed the onesies in her shopping cart. "Those two are really pushing it. Hmm, I wonder if they're trying to buy the one that we saw earlier." She checked her surroundings to see Croire but found out she was talking to herself. "Did she really just leave?!" She was about to head back to the others when her eyes landed on one lone toy atop a big tower of other lesser toys that didn't catch Noire's eyes.

This one toy was a rattle made to look like a microphone with bright colors of pink and teal to make it stand out to a baby's eyes. "I want that!" Shouted Noire to no one in particular.

It was easier to say that than to actually do it for she couldn't reach the toy that loomed over her almost in as if it was mocking her. She might get odd looks from the other customers, but she decided on going into HDD to fetch it.

Just as she was about to do it, the loud intercom of the store came alive. "Attention, all customers, we have new arrivals of soft snuggly blankets in the back section of the store. They're currently half price and we advise the utmost discretion, thank you!"

Noire stared at the intercom where the sound had come from with a pale face. "What kind of message was that?!" Just as she predicted, the wishful hope of high-quality blankets being sold at a great bargain was too much for those who couldn't miss out on such a deal. She quickly felt the floor mildly rumble that then started to grow in resonance. "AHHH!" Her feet were launched from the floor and to the large tower of toys as a large mass of pregnant women had stampede at the area that she was at.

Thankfully, she didn't cause any heavy damage to the tower, but her eyes widened when she noticed the microphone rattle was gone from its mighty place. "Where did it go?!" Said the black-haired CPU of Nepstation. She pulled herself out of the small dent that her body had made to the tower of toys. She slowly crawled around the tower still feeling some effects of the impact when her eyes landed on a small cart that was stationed behind the tower all this time. In this cart, the microphone rattle had fallen on top of the cart.

Her joy brightened with her finally getting back up from the floor.

Words of a conversation cut through the air with two employees facing away from Noire with hands on their necks with tired sighs. "Turns out all these dancing cat toys are defective. Has something to do with their circuits only playing one song," said one of the workers who picked up one of the cat toys that were inside the cart and activated it only to play the same song that they were expecting.

The other merely nodded in acceptance. "It's a shame, but I guess these cats have sung their last tune," said the other worker that only managed to earn them an unamused frown at the joke.

"Yeah… very funny. Let's get these cats to the back and ship them later for a new supply," said the unamused worker.

They both went their separate ways with one of them taking the cart that had the microphone rattle still on it.

Noire cursed herself for being too slow to break up the conversation before it was over. She gave chase to the employee with the cart. Her journey proved to be perilous with crowds of mothers swarming the back area that the employee was taking the cart. She resulted in a few bangs and pushes from mothers on accident, but thankfully, the employee was also having hard times.

One kid was running around with their toy and made a full-on collision with the cart that knocked the top contents all over the floor.

"No! We do not do that, you hear me?" Said the voice of the kid's mother who grabbed their arm gently to keep them in check. She made a few inhales and exhales of breaths as if she just ran a marathon and who could blame her? Although she didn't run a marathon, she was clearly pregnant with her second child. "I'm so sorry about my son knocking the items out of the cart."

The employee gave her a friendly smile. "Nah, these things happen. But, hey kid… listen to your mom. She needs to be taking it easy you hear me?"

The boy made a pout but after looking at the serious face of his mother, he decided to nod in return.

"Well, alright," said the employee.

Noire finally pulled herself out of a cluster of moms-to-be to see that the employee had picked up all the toys and had already made it to the back doors where they keep all their storage. She grew gloomy with her twain-tails looking lower than usual. That was until she saw a toddler of about a year old sitting in one of those store carts with a microphone rattle in her hands.

Noire's face beamed with joy since it must have landed right next to her when the toys fell. She slowly approached the toddler afraid that she might spook her. "Hey… there, little one. Umm, you would mind releasing that toy you got there?" She said with a kind tone instead of a bossy one that she somewhat felt was needed.

The toddler paid no mind to the CPU's desperate favor and merely continued to shake the rattle with a smile on her face.

Noire made a pout and her body moved forward to try and pry the toy out of her little hands. She was a CPU and that little one was a toddler, she could definitely be able to remove it from her. If only she was actually that callous. Just when she was about to do it, she lowered her hands in shame. "I… I… you're making this a lot harder for me," she said when she looked into her adorable yellow eyes and small black pigtails. "I can't possibly take that toy away from you by force. I'm going to have a little girl of my own very soon and if she ever had the chance to see me like this, she would probably think I was the worst parent in the world." Noire rubbed the back of her head with all the extra exhaustion that she endured for the sake of the toy. Just when she was about to turn around, the toddler fired up with cries of wanting that made Noire to look back.

The little one was flaying her arms in the air—with the rattle in hand—at the nearest wall that housed a shelf of toys.

Noire's eyes landed to the same wall the little one was pointing at, and her eyes widened when she gazed at doll versions of the CPUs. There were countless copies of Vert, Blanc, Uni, Noire, Neptune, Nepgear, Rom, and Ram. The craftsmanship was exquisite with great detail showing for each one of them; they were so cute that Noire wanted to get a Neptune doll for herself regardless of the fact that she already had one that she made in the past.

The little girl continued her joyful cries of yearning as her little arms try to extend themselves to the toys.

"Oh, so you want one of these, right?" Noire picked up a Neptune doll to hand to the little one, but as soon as the doll reached the girl's hands, she slapped it to the ground.

"Hey, that's my wife you just threw on the ground!" Noire was more or less disappointed at the act instead of being angry. She picked up the doll and made sure to brush the dirt away from the white little jacket the doll had.

The little one's arms were still actively reaching out to the shelf that housed all the dolls. "Oh, I see… you must have wanted me—haha!" Noire picked out a Noire doll to hand it to the toddler, but once again, she slapped it to the ground.

"H-Hey! There's no pleasing you!" Noire picked it up and put it back from where it came with a sigh.

The little one's arms were still outstretched with her desire still unattainable.

Noire now grew worried and also confused at what the little girl wanted.

Over the course of a few minutes, Noire handed her the other dolls. Blanc was thrown away, Vert met the same fate, not even Rom and Ram stood a chance. The sweet Nepgear doll that had a kind smile plastered across the doll's face proved to do nothing as the little girl also slapped it to the ground.

"Jeez, huh—could it be?" With all options exhausted, Noire's face grew with a beaming light that maybe what she wanted was the one that was right under her nose. The black-haired CPU grabbed the last doll. This doll was her little sister, Uni, who had on a designed face that harbored a thin smile, yet still friendly in nature. "Is this the one you want?"

The girl's face beamed with joy with her arms reaching out for the Uni doll. Noire handed it to her and at the same time, the little girl dropped the microphone rattle on the ground.

"So, you're a fan of my little sister? Can't blame you—she is rather adorable since she takes up after me," said Noire with a prideful smirk causing the little girl to narrow her eyes in skepticism but only for a short time as she went back to hugging the Uni doll and even twirling the doll's hair with cute sounds of content.

The little girl's mother had emerged from an aisle close by with a handful of products as she placed them in the shopping cart. She was a little stun at seeing Lady Noire but gave her a smile when she noticed that her daughter had a bright smile while she hugged a doll in her arms. A thank you was exchanged, and the mother was on her way to another part of the store with her daughter and the Uni doll with her. Now, Noire looked down at the microphone rattle with a happy smile. "I know that you will love this in time… Euri," said the soon to be parent with a soft smile.

"Noire! I found you!"

Noire nearly jumped from her skin when her wife spooked her from behind with her loud outburst. She turned around to see her wife looking at her with a smile that also looked like it wanted to break down into the form of a cry.

"Yeah, you found me, Neptune! W-What's wrong?" Said Noire who didn't know which emotion her wife was leaning on. Just recently, her mood swings have almost completely diminished, and she was starting to get back to her old self again, but this look on her wife's face was no mood swing.

Purple Heart didn't waste time on words as she grabbed her wife's hand and placed it on her stomach.

"N-Neptune…?" Noire nearly choked on her words when she felt a force pushing back on her palm that was originating from her wife's stomach.

"She's kicking, Noire," said Purple Heart sweetly with a happy laugh that filled the air with so much love.

Noire dropped to her knees with marvel at the strong response that told her her daughter was going to be full of energy. "WOW! Those soft little blows are filled with so much power. Yes, momma Noire is here," said Noire who didn't care that she could possibly be making a scene, for she loved that this was the first time she had felt her daughter kick.

If she was making a scene, no one would blame her for this sight of seeing their CPUs publicly showing a wonderful moment as this was completely warranted.

 **For space, this is just my interpretation of how Gamindustri works. Like, they do have a moon, so it's not a stretch to say that they have the same solar system as ours with the idea of Gamindustri replacing Earth. Also, I don't see them making any strides towards space travel with Gamindustri being a fantasy-focused world instead of Sci-fi. Sure Planeptune is known for futuristic tech, but I see that as nothing more than flying machines, and sky based weapons… hmm… maybe there is a little sci-fi in there, but they're CPUs that are tied to their nations with share energy being the only resource that they need and Gamindustri being a self-contained world of endless resources with the downside that monsters roam the world. But that's just my perception of Neptunia as a whole. I did want to still introduce the concept of space in the story because that Neptune joke was too funny and it is true that the four CPUs are known for popular space games that mirror our own world, so I couldn't be saying that they had no insight on space. It makes sense that Lowee would be the ones to bring that info with them being the first nation among the four and… you know… magic! Just my ramblings and when I gave it thought during my writing, I just had to explain myself or else it would be rattling inside my head.**

 **I hope that I was able to explain myself during the teach me Crostie part of the story. I feel that one of my weaknesses as a writer is that I can never fully explain myself properly but in a condensed form, Married CPUs have two types of share energies inside them, the old and the new one that they share with their significant other.**

 **Neutral share energy is in the Sharicite that is pre-assigned to the goddess that the people worship but is in storage. It flows to the CPU like a middleman to the people and the CPU. And it becomes more tailored when it reaches the CPU. That's how I see the depth of the process in the Neptunia universe.**

 **I know that this did take some time to make only because there were things that happen in real life that took me out of my mood for writing. Things are a lot better now and I have no plans on abandoning the story. One more final thing. I think some evaluating is in order and I would like to hear how you all think the story is going. Is there anything that you all want to see happen in the last few months left of Neptune's pregnancy? Thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next one.**


	6. The Baby Shower

**Chapter 6: The Baby Shower**

"Only three more months!" Came the joyous sounds of Nepgear and Uni with little party streamers being tossed into the air that contained a mixture of blue, purple, orange, yellow, green, and red.

The one who this was all for, Purple Heart, marveled at the fun sight of her being covered head to toe with party streamers for today was a special day. She wore one of her favorite new shirts that her friend Plutia recommended, which was a picture of a baby's silhouette eating a cup of pudding underneath a light.

This party had been thrown at the very last minute with Purple Heart having no knowledge that there was even going to be a party today until a few hours ago when her sister, Uni, Rom, Ram, Blanc, and Vert had shown up carrying snacks and party decorations.

It was the weekend and the day was so beautiful that they all decided on making the party outside in the Basilicom courtyard where Noire had proposed to her near the pond and bench.

The pregnant mom-to-be was carried away by so many emotions that time flowed like running water, and before she knew it, she was the center of attention.

"Neptune, are you ready to open presents?!" Said her little sister with the urge in her eyes to finally show her big sister what she got her.

Around Purple Heart, laughter and chatter from all her friends had engulfed the air making her feel like she was in a dream with how perfect it was. She could see Rom and Ram playing around the gazebo with their usual game of tag, and Blanc and Vert were helping Histoire get a nearby table ready for the food. She finally allowed herself to focus on her sister to give her a response. "Nepgear, I'm eagerly excited to see what you have brought as a present but maybe we should hold off. The party has just started and the presents should be saved for after the food," said Purple Heart with her big sisterly voice that was better reinforced from the fact that she was in HDD.

"Oh… that is true…" said Nepgear since she couldn't help but feel defeated and sad at the outcome.

"Nepgear, she has a point. You're going zero to a hundred with that excitement you have," said Uni with a loving hand on her fiancée's hand. With this act, one could clearly see that Uni had on a ring with a red diamond that was surrounded by smaller diamonds composed of clear white ones.

Purple Heart then felt a hand on her shoulder that turned out to be her wife, Noire, who handed her something to drink. "It would be for the best to wait, Nepgear. Let's try to enjoy ourselves first at this party you all threw for us—a baby shower party none the less," said Noire who took a sip of her own drink and sat down with her wife on the stone bench that was in the courtyard.

"That's true. We all did put our efforts to surprise you both earlier today, and… I know that regardless of the time, you both will love our gift from Uni and me," said Nepgear happily.

"If it comes from you and for Euri then I know that the gift will be perfect," said Purple Heart.

The kind words of praise were enough to send Nepgear in a state of butterflies as she danced away to the table along with Uni to help set up.

Noire smiled brightly just out of habit for being surrounded by the people she loved, that included her wife. "She's practically acting like Uzume in her Orange Heart form," said Noire.

"Yes, it must be some gift of grand proportions—which… I kind of feel bad for even making them go through the trouble," said Purple Heart with a sheepish smile.

"Trouble? Neptune, they didn't ask you if you were okay by this, so it's their own choice for getting all these things, and the party on top of that. Frankly, we did manage to buy almost all the things we need for when Euri arrives. And I do also feel bad for them buying things that we should have bought in the first place," said Noire.

"I guess it can't be helped. We didn't ask for this unsuspecting baby shower, and for the gifts that they clearly went out of their way," said Purple Heart as she pointed at a smaller table next to the main table that they were going to use for the food. This table had a giant stack of presents in all shapes and sizes that were basically asking to be opened.

Noire cracked a smile feeling defeated but also happy that their loved ones did do all of this regardless. "The rudest thing we can do now is reject all of this and tell them to go home," said Noire with her eyes pin-pointed at her wife that told her that that option wasn't on the table.

"Agreed," said Purple Heart who completely acknowledged the lack of options they had.

Some time had gone by and the food was ready to be served. Turns out that the cooks here that made this food possible was Compa and IF who didn't arrive at the same time as the others, partly because of guild work and Compa's nurse duties at a local hospital. They did have most of the food cooked earlier during the morning and the others brought it here in containers to keep the food warm and fresh. Although, when they did arrive, they brought more things like a grill and other supplies to cook up some on the spot food.

"Everyone, dinner!" Shouted Compa happily.

"Oh, good. My hunger has been chewing on me for the past hour," said the pregnant CPU.

"Let me help you up," said Noire who brought her wife's arm around her neck so that both of them could lift themselves from the stone seat that they had occupied in the courtyard.

With each passing week during this month, Purple Heart had gotten rapidly pregnant, and her feet, through that result, had become tired and aching. "Let's slow down a little," said Purple Heart with a blush to the fact that she was moving slower than a snail.

"Hey, no worries. I'm not going to make you go top speed. Besides, from here on out, we need to pull through," said Noire.

"I know, darling. Ugh, I'm not going to rush our daughter but I hope that these last few months go by quickly," said Purple Heart.

They reached the table where everyone was waiting for them with a spread of hotdogs, nachos, cut assortments of fruit, sandwiches, pasta, grill chicken, rice, beans, and cooked asparagus.

"Wow, everyone really did go all out on the food," said the pregnant CPU.

"Ah, it was nothing, Nep. Compa and I had the time anyway to make it," said IF rather boastfully.

"Yeah, all we needed was to set our alarm to get us up on time," said Compa.

"Were you two also the ones the brought the dessert?" Said Noire who eyed a chocolate cake, and cheesecake at the end of the table.

"That would be us. Blanc and I went to a wonderful bakery to freshly buy it today," said Vert with pride in her voice.

"Then we should all dig in," said Purple Heart. Just as she was about to grab a plate, Nepgear shot up from her chair.

"Neptune! Uzume's here!" She shouted with a finger pointing pass her sister and to Uzume who was accompanied by her wife, Ultra Vert.

Purple Heart wished she had the joyous mobility to get up and run to her to greet them both, but sadly, she waited for them to get closer.

"Hey, sorry that we're so late," said Uzume. She had a large orange present that she was holding that dragged across the ground due to its height, which almost rivaled Uzume's height. Her wife carried a white box that had a wonderful sweet smell.

"Wonderful that you managed to get my invitation for the baby shower," said Nepgear happily.

"I'd admit, we almost forgot about coming since we've been so busy with stuff," said Uzume.

"Oh, is work still overflowing for you two?" Said Purple Heart with understanding soft eyes that they didn't really need to come if they were that busy.

Ultra Vert interjected with a small soft giggle as she hooked her arm around Uzume that caused Uzume to turn redder than her hair. "Hmm, work isn't that bad anymore. We have been busy with… other things" said Ultra Vert with a subtle rub of her cheek to her wife's own.

The only one in the whole area that was clueless to this action was Purple Heart, with Noire understanding what they meant. It looked like Uzume did took the first move that propelled their relationship to the next level.

The look that Blanc made was one of intense shock and anger that she tried hard to make unnoticeable. Her wife, on the other hand, laughed pleasantly with a tender head pat to Blanc's head to soothe her emotions.

"Well, at least that's good to hear that your nation is coming along nicely. Oh… what's that you got in that box, Vert?" Said Purple Heart with a child-like gaze that tried to peek what was inside the box.

"This is a dessert that we brought. It's carrot cake from one of the finest bakeries in Leanbox," said Ultra Vert who didn't wait to show them the elegant frosted covered cake with almonds sprinkled around the edges.

"And this is the gift that we got you two for the baby shower," said Uzume happily.

"Ah! You two shouldn't have, but I deeply thank you both for coming," said Purple Heart with a nice hug to both of them.

After the hug, Ultra Vert and Uzume sat down with the others to begin the meal.

Ultra Vert gave the pregnant CPU a smile before saying what she had in her mind. "I'm grateful for being invited to this party. In honesty, I would have been fine staying back in Leanbox with Uzume only coming along."

"Hey, don't say that, Vertsy!" Proclaimed Uzume.

"Indeed. You are more than welcome to tag along to any events that we all might share. When I think about it, Plutia and the others were also more than welcome to come," said Purple Heart. It was at this moment that Purple Heart and Noire looked at each other with the same thought coming into their heads.

The pregnant CPU looked at her little sister who gave her a nervous smile. "Nepgear, you did invite the others, right?"

"W-Well, about that…" Nepgear grew a blush since her main reason was to have a selective party with the people from her dimension only. It wasn't that she didn't consider the Ultra residents to be family, but she didn't want the tension of Ultra Neptune and Plutia ruining this day.

"I see, then while I do kind of understand, that was indeed sad," said Purple Heart.

"Hmm, it's probably for the best, Neptune. Those two are always budding heads whenever they meet up, and I could only imagine all sorts of drama that they might have brought with them," said Ultra Vert.

Noire nodded at that statement. "Very true. I'm sure Nepgear and Uni weighted their options when it came to inviting them," said Noire.

"Hmm, I don't know. Sure, those two bud heads pretty hard but they do know to keep their act together when it comes to me and my baby," said Purple Heart.

"Oh, Neptune. They will get their chance to live up to your expectations. I really shouldn't be telling you this, but… the others from my dimension are planning a baby shower for you next week," said Ultra Vert.

"What!? Another one!?" Said both Noire and Purple Heart.

"Why yes. I am the one that is going to be hosting it in Leanbox."

Uzume interjected with the rest of the story. "Yeah, both Big Nepsy and Plutia both came to Leanbox to talk to me about setting up a baby shower for you. I figured that it would have been a bad idea if I let them take matters into their own hands and host it in their nation, leaving the other to be abandoned if it was held in Lastation or Planeptune."

"And it isn't that the thought hadn't crossed their minds to host it in their nations. I bet that subconsciously, they were expecting us to say yes so that you wouldn't feel like you were choosing one or the other," said Ultra Vert.

"Indeed, since I would have rather to not go at all if given that option," said Purple Heart.

"Yes, those two, while they hate each other, they know that the other must be there in order for you to have a great time. And here I hadn't thought that Plutia gave anything that much thought," said Ultra Vert.

Everyone ate the delicious food that was served. While everyone was eating, Noire noticed that her wife hadn't eaten that much; only some nachos and fruit.

"Hey, Neptune. Have some rice or a hotdog," said Noire who handed a hotdog to her wife.

Purple Heart sweetly looked at her wife but did not reach for it. "I… I don't want to eat that much," she said sheepishly.

"It won't be bad for your health if you had some more. Croire already told us that it was safe. Or do you still feel unsure?" Asked Noire.

"I just don't want to push it. Besides, I'm going to save the rest of my appetite for dessert," said Purple Heart.

"Oh, okay. But there are going to be leftovers in the house from all this food and I have already been told that this is going to be left at our home," said Noire with a small smile at the fact that while her wife might stand close to her principles, she will probably be picking away at the food in these coming days.

The pregnant CPU only grew timider at the statement that was said that she grabbed a plate of carrot cake to take her mind off of the long internal challenge that would await her against her cravings.

Noire did not know what overcame her but she gave her wife a hug in order to show her love and support.

After everyone had their share of food, Ultra Vert and Vert jumped up from their seats ready to shout out what was on their minds. They stopped to look at each other, coming to realize that no doubt the other had the same idea.

"Oh, do you want to go first?" Asked Ultra Vert.

"Hmm, well that depends if what you have to say is the same as mine," said Vert.

"Indeed, what an interesting turn of events. Okay, then let's both shout out what we think at the same time. Three… two… one!"

"Baby games!" They both screamed in delight at the same time.

Everyone looked at both Verts with surprise, except Uzume and Blanc who already knew what was going to happen.

"Oh, that sounds like a magnificent idea!" Said Histoire with Compa and IF agreeing.

"That sounds fun! What kind of games did you both have in mind?" Said Purple Heart with curiosity.

Both Verts raced back to the Basilicom and came back with two boxes full of game tools. "It would seem that we both had the same idea in putting our belongings in the same closet room in the reception area," said Vert.

This caused Ultra Vert to laugh whole-heartily. "Indeed! The closet was dark, so I didn't see that box that you hid inside, but enough of that. I decided on bringing these games as a thank you for being invited," said Ultra Vert.

"Let's just hope that we entirely don't have the same idea," said Vert with a little worry. She happily pulled out an object from her box and held it high in the air that made all the other CPUs stare at with odd eyes. "Feast your eyes on this little game of mine!" She handed the object to the pregnant CPU who took it from her.

"A diaper?" Said Purple Heart as she held onto the soft little baby item with a tiny blush growing on her cheeks.

"Yes, the game that I want us all to play is pin the diaper on the baby!" She pulled out a baby doll that was nude with no features on the face; just a blank slate like a mannequin. Some, like Uni and Nepgear, was a little freaked out by this.

"Count Noire and I in on this game," said Purple Heart with elation. That at least made one of the two with Noire being a little hesitant about the game but knew that this was a perfect time to apply her skills.

Everyone moved the food in the table around to have half of the table available. They all gathered around with the first set of girls being the main couple that the baby shower was made for. Noire and her wife were standing over the doll with a diaper in their hands.

Vert joined them with her smile never wavering. "Now, the rules are simple. You will each have one minute to put on the diaper on the baby and whoever can do it correctly, and fastest will be the winner. Oh, and you will be blindfolded while this goes on," said Vert who held up a blindfold.

"What? Why do we have to be blindfolded? It's not like we are going to be changing our daughter in the dark," said Noire.

"Those are my rules, Noire. You should have confidence in your dexterity to not rely on your sight," said Vert.

Much to the dissatisfied look on Noire's face, she had nothing else to say as she was blindfolded.

With her sight no longer in her arsenal, she put more effort in her sense of touch giving her a mental outline of the doll's body. She held the diaper in one hand and held a steady breath as she started moving her fingers around. She could hear gasps of wonder from the others that made her steadfast in her actions.

"Done!" She yelled as she took off her blindfold to see that she had successfully placed the diaper on the baby doll.

"Impressive, Noire. And that only took you thirty seconds. Now, when it comes to cleaning her, I wonder how long it will be," said Vert. All that Noire could do was give her a challenging look that she was ready for when that time came. Noire felt the gentle hold of her wife's hand and a kiss hit her cheek.

"That was wonderful, Noire—but then again, I shouldn't be surprised with your natural skills."

Noire gave her a soft nervous laugh since her skills weren't natural. A distant memory of hers had entered her mind of her reading her secret book about parenting, pregnancy, and all the things that encompassed those two. In the book, she had a page opened that had a picture of a baby and a diaper with arrows pointing to certain things. She had used the tips she learned from the book to put on a diaper on a tiny pillow she had in her office desk when she would be alone. The memory ended with Noire having a bright red face. "N-Natural. I—I—guess…haha," she pulled back her laugh at the end but her wife was none the wiser.

Purple Heart moved in center to get ready for her own turn. She could see Uni and Nepgear giving Noire outstanding praise with Histoire nodding her head in joy.

The pregnant CPU wanted to meet her wife's status, so she took a deep breath and channeled all her will power into succeeding in this game.

The blindfold soon covered her eyes and she no longer had the sight on her side. She felt around with her fingers that found the doll's face. She would rather she not hold her daughter's face so clumsily just to find out where it was. It was only for a few seconds that she removed her hands away to grab a diaper.

Her heart started to beat irregularly at the touch of the diaper that symbolized many things to come and many things that she needed to strive for. She began to actively work on putting the diaper on. Her fingers fumbled here and there, and she did pause for a second to center her thinking for what she needed to do next.

The straps that held the sides of the diaper closed the front and back of it. She had finished just in time with Vert saying that time was up the next second later.

Purple Heart allowed herself a little smirk that was a page taken from her wife, but she felt that she deserved it for her accomplishment. The blindfold came off and the first thing she saw was her loved ones and wife looking at her with stunned faces.

"Huh? What's wrong?" She looked for the first time at the table since she took off her blindfold to see that she did indeed placed the diaper, however, she ended up placing it on the head instead of the lower body. Her face became extremely red and that was only overshadowed by her sadness that she felt for herself.

"Well… at least you managed to still put it on," said Uzume who only managed to make the situation worse.

"I guess I have a lot of learning to do," said Purple Heart with a gloom voice that was trying to hold herself from letting out any waterworks.

Histoire floated next to her with a kind head pat on Purple Heart's head. "Now, now, when it does come to changing little Euri in the future, you will be able to see what you are doing."

"That's right. Don't let this little game get to you, Neptune. Think of it as just practice to iron out any flaws that we might have," said Noire.

Purple Heart smiled at her kindly and let those words fuel her for what else she had to say. "Then let us try harder to iron out all of our flaws," said Purple Heart with her smile back. With that smile, Noire could only give her one too along with a kiss.

The next game after everyone else had a chance to try out the current one was set up by Ultra Vert who had brought a bunch of baby bottles filled with liquid. Everyone got one as they looked at it oddly. "The name of the game is called, 'Drink up, baby!' and all you have to do is be the one to finish the baby bottle first. And before anyone asks, it's apple juice that's inside, so drink up everyone," laughed Ultra Vert.

Everyone nodded and quickly downed the juice. The clear winner to this game was the mom-to-be for she had the greatest urge to drink it up faster with her cravings giving her the edge to down it faster than someone finding water in an oasis in the middle of the desert.

"Ah! Wow, I can't drink that fast," said Noire with a few coughs along with Uni, Nepgear, and Uzume. Compa and IF hadn't even finished half of it which was the same results for the rest of the CPUs.

"It looks like Neptune is the clear winner of this game," said Ultra Vert.

Purple Heart received a lot of praise from the others that in truth, did embarrass her for winning a game that was purely food related—but it could have been worst—could have been some game-related thing that had pudding involved that not only would it have encroached upon her beliefs to limit her food intake but also her weakness to pudding.

"Looks like so far Noire and Nep are the only ones with wins," said Compa who had pulled out a dry erase board as she had the wins tracked.

"Oh, oh! Never fear for there are more games to be had," said both of the Verts with their boxes still full of game-related props.

They spend the next hour playing a wide array of games that had questions asked to both Noire and Purple Heart about certain things that they wanted for their baby. Noire stated that she would like her daughter to be full of energy just like her wife, and Purple Heart wanted the opposite with her daughter being close to Noire's personality.

Another type of game was remembering all the baby items in a bag like a rattle, pacifier, wool hat, bottle, sock, and so forth. The clear winner of that game was a close match between Historie and Noire, however, Histoire had a pretty good memory and was able to recall all items in the bag.

Sadly, like all good things, the games started to come to their climax, and the day was soon going to be over. It was at this moment that Nepgear jumped onto her chair with joy. "Looks like its finally time for the presents!" She shouted with all her might. She wasn't the only one with Uni being just as hyped up as her girlfriend that would soon become her wife.

Purple Heart lifted herself off the chair with the help of Noire who went to the small table with her wife so they could accept all the gifts.

"Huh, Nepgear and Uni have been eagerly waiting for this moment for a while, so why don't we start with them?" Said Noire.

"No, no. We waited this long and we can wait for us to be last," said Nepgear with a smile that was barely containing her excitement.

"Are you sure?" Asked Purple Heart.

Uni could see that Nepgear was holding herself back too hard that the offer to redact her previous statement was sounding too good. "Um, yeah, we can wait. It's best to save the best for last, right Nepgear?" Asked Uni. She could see that Nepgear was holding her breath, yet agreed with all the will power she could muster.

Histoire took this time to land in front of her longtime business partner, Purple Heart. "I will agree to save them for last. That way, you can open my gift first," she said as she handed both of the soon-to-be parents a small rectangular present with purple and yellow wrapping.

The excitement in Purple Heart's eyes was elevated but that quickly changed when they opened the present that turned out to be a book.

"Huh? A hundred ways to being top tier CPU?" Said Noire who read out the title.

"Yes, a friend of mine in the writing industry just recently published this title about what makes a great CPU. These examples are from opinions of various residents of Gamindustri about what they value in a CPU. After giving it a good read, I strongly agree that this book would be a great influence to Euri—especially example thirty-nine: A good CPU is a hard working CPU." Histoire gave Purple Heart a far off look that expressed deep meaning in those words, even though the pregnant CPU had turned her slacking off habits away for the overall benefit of her wife and the new nation that they shared.

"Let me see that," said Blanc who—for a book-worm such as herself—could find respect in material like this. That was before she found an example that pissed her off. "WHAT!? Example number one: A large bust!?" She slammed the book on the table and completely rejected the book as a whole.

"Oh, my. Well… it's mostly opinions, Blanc. Plus, there are ninety-nine other good reasons," said Vert with a playful hug to calm her wife.

"Whatever… anyway, we're up next," said Blanc still quite angry. Vert reached over to the small table with all the gifts and grabbed two bags; one green and one white.

Both the purple-haired girl and black-haired girl both peeked inside to see a wide assortment of baby clothes. They were both grateful at the kind gesture but found that these clothes left a bad taste in their mouths.

"What do you think?" Said Vert.

What Noire and Purple Heart thought was that the clothes, that had hats, onesies, socks, and even a blanket in their ranks had one thing in common—they were all green and white—and to CPUs, the color sometimes spoke louder than words.

"It's wonderful, Vert. Thank you," said Purple Heart due to the fact that Noire was still processing this information. In Noire's mind, those two might have said that they wanted to own her daughter. To continue into Noire's thoughts, she was thinking that since Vert doesn't have a little sister, then she's evolving to the next step which would mean that she's going to try to be some kind of obsessive surrogate mother. Noire had to check herself with her thoughts getting petty and out of control—these clothes could just be nothing but a friendly gift with no meaning. She then felt Purple Heart's hand on her knee with a tight grip to pull her back to reality.

Noire sighed and bowed her head in thanks.

"Oh, my, I'm glad you like the clothes. Now, I would like to see her wearing those clothes after she is born—preferably as her first outfit," said Vert with a playful smirk.

"That's not going to happen! Ah! I mean… we already have an outfit picked out for her," said Noire with a blush after she felt a light squeeze from her wife.

Vert folded her arms with a solemn look. "Hmm, such a shame but I understand."

After that, It was IF and Compa's turn. Compa, being the fun friend and child at heart, showered both of the CPUs with toys. A portion of these toys was wooden blocks for building words, a teddy bear, baby's first shapes that you placed in their matching holes, a classic xylophone, a toy game controller, and a horsebird rocking seat.

For IF, she practically shoved an old treasure map in front of the CPUs. "Check this out. I want her to have this for when she's older and ready to try out her first adventure. Don't worry though, this part of Gamindustri doesn't have anything too dangerous, and I would love to be her companion for that one," said IF.

"Oh, Iffy, only you can give us such a meaningful and sweet gift like this," said Purple Heart. She knew that IF's adventures were always the best when she wasn't out doing guild jobs.

Warm hugs were exchanged with Rom and Ram being the follow-ups to the gift giving. "Our turn! Our turn!" Shouted Ram.

"We got the baby coloring books and colors," said Rom with a much softer voice than her sister.

"Oh? Umm… most of these are already colored in," said Noire who skim through the pages.

Both Rom and Ram looked at each other and smiled silly. "Yeah, sorry about that. We burn through Blanc's hidden manuscripts and we still had the urge to keep coloring," said Ram.

"I guess it also didn't help that we bought these a week before the party," said Rom.

"Grrr! You two brats not only reminded me about my lost works but also used up the gift that you bought for the baby!" Shouted Blanc.

It took a while to calm Blanc down from doing a hilarious jump towards the twins' heads that would have perfectly mirrored a popular game character from Blanc.

When the had settled, Uzume quietly handed Purple Heart a disc. "Hey, Nepsy. Mm… this is pretty hard to say what I got for you so… here, take it," The disc turned out to be a long list of baby lullabies that were written on the back of the case.

"Uzume, this gift…" The pregnant CPU without warning gave Uzume a powerful hug that made it impossible for her to even move her joints.

"Ah… Nepsy. It makes me really happy that you like it but… if I could feel my blood flowing again, that would be nice," she said as she turned blue in the face.

"This has been a lovely baby shower. Thank you all for these amazing gifts." Tears of joy had cascaded down Purple Heart's cheeks.

"Now hold on there, Neptune. While Uzume got you that wonderful gift, that is in no way, the only gift from the both of us," said Ultra Vert. She pointed at the big gift that was still sitting at the small table that everyone had somehow forgotten.

"We completely forgot about that," Said Noire in shock.

Ultra Vert merely smiled with a finger to her lip trying to hold back a sneer. "That's more than fine because we didn't. And this gift is one worth to remember," she said.

Both Ultra Vert and Uzume moved the box in front of the two CPUs.

"Have at it you two," said Uzume.

Both Noire and Purple Heart unwrapped the box to reveal a beautiful stroller. The picture of the stroller on the box was black all around with a pink roof over the seat to shield the baby from the harsh sun.

"We love it!" Shouted both of the soon-to-be parents.

"I would expect as much," said Ultra Vert rather boastful.

The married couple from Ultra Leanbox had stolen the show of best presents that anyone would agree that was the way to top off the gift opening section of the baby shower… there was just an odd feeling like something was still missing.

"Hey! Hold on!" Shouted Nepgear and Uni frantically. They had picked up dust from the ground with their mad dash toward their sisters. They moved so cartoonishly fast that they knocked both Uzume and Ultra Vert aside resulting in the Ultra Leanbox couple to collide with Blanc and Vert.

"Sister, we can't shake the sinking feeling that we're being overlooked. Our gift is here!" Shouted Nepgear with fright that she was going to miss her moment to present their gift.

"Big sis, we told you both that our gift was going to be last. It's not like we cared to be first or anything—well at first—but we searched endlessly for the perfect gift that it would be tragic if we were forgotten," said Uni who was just as passionate about giving the gift as her future wife was.

It took a few seconds for Purple Heart to remove her shock from the unexpected outburst but gave them both a big smile. "We didn't forget about our little sisters' gift to us," she said.

"Oh, Uni. Well, show us this gift," said Noire.

The younger sisters smiled with relief and pushed the big gift toward them with eager anticipation.

Noire and Purple Heart slowly began to unwrap the gift that was covered in pink and red paper.

What stood before Purple Heart and Noire was something that left them speechless… in an awkward manner.

The gift was an unconstructed playpen for the baby, and its picture in the box was shaped in a hexagon design, surrounded by soft netting, and sturdy under and top bars to keep the shape of the playpen strong if any weight so happened to hit the sides. It also came with little toys and with a rainbow-colored floor inside the hexagon.

"What do you think?" Asked both of the younger sisters with a dread silent stillness in their eyes at the possibility that they didn't like it.

After a serious look that was secretly exchanged between Noire and Purple Heart, they looked at their younger sisters and smiled joyfully at them.

"This is indeed the best gift that we could ever get," they both said along with a hug to their sisters.

A large sigh could be heard from both Nepgear and Uni who took the hug for all it was worth. "W-We expected that you would like it," said Uni who summoned up a smirk that still had lingering subtle winces in the corners of her mouth.

"We were afraid that you wouldn't like it," said Nepgear.

"What? This gift is great and we will make sure that Euri uses it to the fullest," said Purple Heart.

After the older sisters made sure that their little sisters weren't in earshot, with them joining Rom and Ram for a last party activity of hide-and-seek around the gazebo, Purple Heart gave Noire and long glance that was more than enough information for Noire to go on.

Noire pulled out her phone and skimmed through a few things. "I know, I know. I'm logging into Amazoo," said Noire, which was a buying website where various general items were available to buy. "…and… there. I just canceled our order," said Noire. She put her phone away with a small smile appearing on the corners of her mouth.

The same was said for Purple Heart who giggled softly. "I can't believe they got the same thing that we ordered for the baby," she said.

Noire folded her arms to her side while she looked at Nepgear and Uni playing with Rom and Ram. "I'm not surprised. Our little sisters have a knack for understanding our tastes," giggled Noire.

"Hey, it at least saves us from buying that," said the pregnant CPU.

That comment caused Noire to playfully roll her eyes. "Sure, they helped us on that one thing, however, we have an entire list of things that we bought on Amazoo. In the end, it was wonderful that our friends went out of their way to get us things—even though we pretty much had it covered. Like I told Histoire when she saw the bill—all of this is for our daughter, and we'll spare no expenses," said Noire.

 **[Later that day]**

The night had come once again, and everyone had left well before darkness had descended. The scenery had changed to Noire and Purple Heart's bedroom where they were getting ready for bed.

Purple Heart was laying on her bed in her maternity nightgown while she brushed her short hair softly while she admired her evergrowing belly that had her future daughter inside. Every time she thought about her daughter, that very notion would make her smile wide. She halted her brushing when light kicks had come from her stomach. "Oh, having trouble sleeping, Euri?" She said sweetly to the vacant room that she was in. She didn't get a response but she could tell that her daughter was sleeping soundly.

The door opened to her room and Noire entered with her sleeping clothes on and her hair down. "Okay, it took me a while to put away the food but it's all done. Also, the desserts are to the very back so that you won't be tempted." She gave her wife a look that made Purple Heart give her a sheepish look.

"Noire, before you sit down on the bed… could you… could you…"

"Huh?" Noire could tell that her wife was blushing wildly as she forced herself to finish what was on her mind.

"…could you… rub my feet? They've been hurting more regularly when I walk."

"Your feet? Well, it does make sense with all the extra weight you've been carrying." Noire placed herself at the end of the bed where her wife's feet were. She rolled up her pajama sleeves and set to work massaging her wife's feet. "How's that, pretty good, right?" Replied Noire rather pridefully at her skills to tend to her wife's needs.

Purple Heart had her eyes closed, but she didn't appear to be enjoying the massage with a stern expression.

"What's wrong, honey? Am I hurting you?" Said Noire who stopped her actions.

"No, that's not it. Hmm, I don't want this to be said the wrong way, but… your pressure is too soft that I hardly feel my nerves loosening up," said the pregnant CPU.

"Really?" Noire gave it more force on her actions that she once again asked her wife on the status of it.

"Hmm. Still too weak."

Noire didn't feel like giving up on tending to her wife's needs. Just then, it clicked on her what might be the case.

Purple Heart heard a whooshing sound that indicated HDD being activated. She was going to open her eyes when all of a sudden, she felt the heavenly feel of hard and soothing pressure being applied to her feet. "Ah! Yes… just like that Noire…" She happily finished opening her eyes to see Black Heart with her current pajamas still applied to her person.

Purple Heart continued to moan involuntarily at her soothing pleasure that her wife was giving her. She was completely unaware that her moans of relaxation were having effects on her wife.

Black Heart, who continued to massage the feet, had her cheeks stained with red. A nervous sweat had appeared on the side of her face after repeated waves of joyful sounds coming from her wife. If anyone was nearby to hear this, they would think that they were involved in more intimate activities beyond a simple foot massage.

"Oh, yes… a little lower," said Purple Heart with her head thrashing side to side on her pillow in bliss.

Black Heart bit her lip hard to suppress her nervous yells of embarrassment that wanted to manifest. Even with her added serious and leveled personality buffs she got from her HDD, she still wanted to yell in embarrassment—she would have probably fainted from the pseudo-erotic moans coming from her wife than this continued act of pleasing her wife.

Purple Heart sunk her head onto the pillow in satisfaction. "Hmm, that was so good, my dear," said Purple Heart after finally opening her eyes.

Black Heart let out a huge breath of air and mustered the power to summon up a smile.

"What's with the drained face?" Asked the pregnant CPU with worry.

Black Heart said nothing as she made her way to her side of the bed and laid flat down to better see her wife's face. "It's nothing to focus on. What matters is that you are feeling a lot better."

"Hmm, I do. Only your hands could have given me that much joy—they always do find a way," said Purple Heart that was a sneaky way of implying much deeper meanings that left Black Heart flustered.

The white-haired CPU of Nepstation calmed her blushing face to hold her wife's hand tenderly. "I… I could say the same for you, Neptune. You are my light that keeps my world with sight, and soon… I'm going to have more that will make me see the world much brighter—if that's even possible to begin with."

"She will indeed be our little sunshine," said Purple Heart with a kiss to her wife. "This is nice. It's been a while since… we have been this intimate."

"Yeah, I mean… with the baby and the mood swings, we haven't had that much time to be romantic and have a tender moment like this," said Black Heart.

Purple Heart felt the deep implications of those words that brought her deep guilt. A hand from Purple Heart tenderly rubbed the cheek of her wife. "I'm sorry that if I haven't been as romantic in the past as we used to be. All those nights that I didn't even kiss you only because my body was too tired to think of anything else."

"Neptune… you don't need to apologize. I'm aware that this comes first and that you've been going through many changes. In fact, I've even taken this time to become a better parent for when our baby arrives," said Black Heart.

"You have?"

"Oh, right. I never told you about my book. It's not like I was trying to keep it hidden from you but I never found an opportunity to tell you about it." Black Heart quickly jumped out of bed and raced to her closet, where she picked up a book.

"A book? What kind of book?" Asked her wife.

"Well… a book about parenting—right to the very fundamentals, like tending to your wife, finding out certain habits that baby's do when they cry to find out what they want, certain techniques to changing diapers, and a lot more," said Black Heart with a smile.

"So this was how you were able to change the diaper so fast? Color me impressed, Noire."

"It's not something to brag about. I'm doing this because I want to be the best parent that I can be and give Euri everything she needs. It's hard trying to understand that since we never had parents, so I can't really reference how a good parent should act," said Black Heart.

Purple Heart placed her wonderful smelling hair of lilac close to her wife's chest that gave Black Heart a good smell that made her smile slightly. "I think this is a good start to be a great parent. We've made so much great progress, like checking up on the baby with doctor visits and getting essentials from the baby shower and Amazoo. Even the room for the baby is almost done but I think we need to take it to the next level. How would you feel about taking classes to help us better our hold on this whole parenting thing?"

"Classes? That actually sounds quite fun," said Black Heart.

"Then it's settled. We'll look around and find classes to take so that we can be the best parents for our Euri."

 **Thank you all for the reviews and suggestions that I received from the last chapter. I got some good ideas that I will be applying in the next chapter to come. Also, I have not forgotten about Uni and Nepgear being close to getting married. That will take place in chapter eight right before the big and nervous-induce due date. Thanks for sticking to this story and I promise more good and cute things to come.**


	7. Brain Baby

**Chapter 7: Brain Baby**

"Hmm… what do you think, sweetie?" Said a black-haired girl who held up her hands to form a frame as she looked through it to a particular section of the room. The room that they were in was the former room of Nepgear—now turned into a baby's paradise of epic proportions.

The one who was called by the black-haired girl sat in a nearby purple armchair. She looked well at home in that chair with the notion of even getting up from it being preposterous if not outlandish. Truth be told, it had to do with the ever-growing bundle of life she had inside her that caused her to grow lazy over the course of the weeks. "That area looks perfect, Noire," said the purple-haired mom-to-be as she smiled softly at the room that evolved so much.

The room was colored in half purple, and half blue with cute designs all over. There was now a crib, which was the thing that her wife, Noire, was trying to place in the room with perfection in her mind. The other things that were also in the room was a playpen in one corner, a drawer near a wall, stroller inside the closet, and other things that they received from their friends and Amazoo shopping site.

"You're right, it does look perfect there if I do say so myself," said the black-haired CPU who allowed a smirk to cross her face.

"Noire, we still have to finish up with Plutia and the others gave us," said the pregnant CPU as she pointed to a corner that had boxes of the gifts that their friends from Ultra dimension gave them.

"Oh, those? Fine if it can't be helped," said Noire. Noire pushed all the boxes in front of her wife so that she didn't have to get up, and they could both go through them.

"Does feel silly how we pushed these things into the room to collect dust with just a single look at them," said the pregnant CPU.

"This is the baby's room after all. Also… everyone else had to get back to their nations to work on some ongoing game related competition of theirs," said Noire.

"It didn't sound like a big nation related thing when Uzume told me about it. Frankly, Big me and her Noire had to get back home to launch some big game the next day, and I guess Plutia and Blanc were chasing after their momentum with their own game coming out," said Purple Heart.

"Whatever, the good thing here is that they didn't give us copies of things we bought online—it would have been frustrating if they got us a high-chair or even a baby bath," said Noire with a small chuckle.

"Or how about a playpen?" Said Purple Heart with a smile.

"Ugh, no thanks. That would have been horrible," said the black-haired CPU. She went through the first box that caught her eye and opened the contents of what was inside. "Baby monitors… we can do a whole lot with these for sure."

Purple Heart picked one up from her wife and stared at it with wonder. "We didn't think of this at all! Now we can hear our little girl if she gets cranky at night—I bet that if we push the volume all the way up, we'll be able to hear her breathing soundly," proclaimed the pregnant CPU who now had her heart fluttering at the notion of it.

Noire nodded in response, but the next thing that she found that was next to the box caused her to flinch. "This… is going to have to be given some deep thought," said Noire who sounded like she hadn't already made up her mind, but her voice captured a feeling that she already did. She showed Purple Heart a picture encased in a frame that was of Ultra Noire and Ultra Neptune smiling in front of a garden.

"Hmm, must be some vacation photo," said Noire.

"I think it's very lovely for them to give our daughter this," said the purple-haired girl.

"Yeah, no. I'm pretty sure that this is going to confuse Euri about who her parents are exactly and… t-this does feel really creepy for them to be giving us this," said Noire with a faint blush in her cheeks.

"Hmm, the back of the photo has some words that state this was Noire's idea," said Purple Heart.

"Pfft, she can be weird if you ask me," said Noire.

Purple Heart didn't say anything more other than a slight frown with narrow eyes.

"W-What? If you're insinuating that's something that I would have done if the roles were reversed, then… then… that's just crazy. Come on! Stop looking at me like that," pleaded Noire who put the photo away.

The next set of gifts were from Plutia and Ultra Blanc. It was worth noting that among the gifts, there was one that stood above all of them with its giant height that almost reached Noire's height.

"That's from Plutia, right?" Asked Purple Heart with focused eyes at the colorful wrapping that was neatly tied by a red bow.

"It is, and I'm kind of afraid to open it." Regardless of any convincing reasons that she had in her head, she still opened the box to see endless fur, along with black shiny eyes staring back at her. "Ack… t-this… oh, it's a teddy bear," said Noire after thinking it was some creepy animal doll but upon closer inspection, she could see that it was fairly normal that didn't invoke Plutia's unique style of doll making that could be creepy at times if she tried.

"How wonderful," said Purple Heart who placed the big teddy bear on her lap to give it a better look. "Although, it is really big for Euri to even play with. This is more like a toy that would suit her best when she gets older," said the pregnant CPU.

"Hmph, that thing is almost as tall as me. And it's pretty unconventional to use anyway," said Noire.

"Oh, I see that there is another big one of there's," said Purple Heart.

Noire moved her eyes at a box that was in the shadow of the bigger box that they just opened. It was reasonable that the black-haired girl failed to see that box due to the bigger box taking all the attention. She quickly opened the box and her eyes enlarged with confusion.

"Is that a car seat!?" Asked Purple Heart who placed the teddy bear on the floor next to her armchair.

"Looks that way, but why?" Noire spotted a letter that was attached to the box. She picked it up and began to read it out loud. "Sorry in advance for the giant bear that Plutia gave you. I told her that it didn't have to be that big, but she still persisted. My gift, on the other hand, will hopefully be more convenient to use."

Noire folded the letter but she still looked confused. "It was from Blanc of Ultra, but I don't really see how this will even help us. Last I checked, we don't even use cars when we have the ability to fly."

"Hmm, would it be something to consider in the future? I could imagine that having a baby in our arms could be dangerous when we fly," said the pregnant CPU.

"I… I… I guess I could look into getting us a car, although, I… never driven one before," said Noire who had trouble even saying those words with her cheeks growing red.

"Neither have I, Noire. We could always ask IF to give us some lessons," said Purple Heart.

Noire suddenly had a flashback to IF's intense driving habits that sent a chill up her spine. She then looked at the clock on the wall. "Neptune, we should be getting ready for our parenting class today," said Noire after standing up from her position on the floor, and putting the gifts away.

Purple Heart agreed with her and in no time at all, they were dressed in attires made for a breezy day. Noire had on a black and blue jacket while Purple Heart dawned a purple one that stretched extra to accommodate for her stomach size.

The sky was cloudy but there wasn't any ominous indication that it might rain. Purple Heart let out a big sigh, along with a sluggish pace.

"Should we get a taxi to take us there instead?" Asked the black-haired girl.

"No, it isn't that far away of a walk, plus a little exercise would do me good," said Purple Heart as she started walking down the street.

"W-Wait, Neptune!"

"What is it?" Asked Purple Heart with irritation from all the stopping.

Noire looked at her with bewilderment plastered across her face, along with an even challenging stern face toward her wife. "The parenting class is on the opposite side of the street. Where you're going is deeper into downtown," said Noire with a hand on her hip.

The mild irritation had quickly vanished from Purple Heart's face as she came to realize that she was, in fact, going in the wrong way. "Oh, I must have been lost in the clouds for a moment there. I'm sorry, honey."

"Pfft, that's okay, really. Actually, with all these clouds in the sky, I don't blame you," said Noire with a forgiving and understanding tone.

Some time had gone by with silence filling the air and the only sounds where from the birds chirping and cars passing by, but there weren't that many cars on the road. Noire had checked her phone when she received a notification. "I swear, Uni and Nepgear are going all overboard with this. They just sent us pictures of the area that they decided to rent out for the big day," said Noire with a chuckle.

"Big… day?" Responded Purple Heart slowly as her mind had to connect anything that was important.

Noire tilted her head in confusion from what she just heard from her wife. "Are you pulling my leg or something? The big day. As in Uni and Nepgear's big day when they will get married," said Noire to her wife's eyes.

The revealment of that fact had enlarged her eyes to the point of bursting and her mouth was wide in shock. "Yes! They're getting married. That's what their big day means. I… I… don't know why I suddenly drew a blank to any events that were related to my very own sister," said Purple Heart with worry in her voice.

"Hey, hey, look at me. Are you feeling okay?" Asked her wife.

Purple Heart did look quite disturbed from her lack of memory, however, she didn't want to alarm her wife. "Y-Yes. I must be a little tired that my memory must be escaping me," said Purple Heart.

"Hmm, if that's the case, maybe we should turn back and head home."

"No, no. We have to get to our class," said Purple Heart. At this time, she started to feel slightly dizzy that caused her to fall forward.

"Ah!" Cried Noire who instantly went into HDD to gain the added strength to stop herself and her wife from falling on the sidewalk. "That's it. We are not going to class today, Neptune!" barked Black Heart in her stern voice.

"This fatigue… it must be from the baby. Ugh, but I can only wonder if this memory loss is part of it too," said Purple Heart in a groggy voice after being held by her wife.

"My guess is that this might be a new side effect. Some kind of baby brain effect caused by being pregnant."

"Yes, I do feel pregnancy side-effects more powerful considering I'm a CPU."

Black Heart needed no more words as she started to walk back home to the Basilicom. Her plan was to head back right away, but each step that they took, Black Heart came to the conclusion that she remembered her book had covered something related to this situation. "Neptune, let's stop at the store for a moment to get some things that might help you," she said with confidence.

Her wife looked confused but agreed since there was a grocery store not that far off from where the Basilicom was located.

That day, Purple Heart truly felt humiliated when she was placed in a motorized shopping cart that was mostly used for elderly people and others with conditions that restricted their walking movements. "I don't like this," she said with desolation plastered across her face.

Black Heart turned around to look at her wife. "Oh, come on. Your cute and bite-size form would have gotten a kick out of driving one of these, so I know deep down you probably are enjoying this."

"If the situation was different, maybe, but I'm still able to walk," said Purple Heart with her challenging stare toward her wife.

"I just don't want you to fall. There are a few things that I remember looking up that, hopefully, it might help," said Black Heart.

"Might help?" Asked her wife with unease at Black Heart's words.

"Yeah, well, it's not the exact same situation but since CPU pregnancy symptoms are exaggerated, then maybe remedies could also be that way."

"What?" Said Purple Heart with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you seriously forget what I just told you now?" Asked Black Heart.

"No, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that explanation."

"We'll find out eventually." Black Heart went to work getting random things that she needed from different isles. It didn't take that long when the shopping cart had a good amount of things.

"Walnuts, avocados, dark chocolate?" Said Purple Heart after looking at a few things that were in the cart.

"Looks like your curiosity has peaked," said Black Heart with a smile and a wink toward her wife.

The frown that Purple Heart dawned had vanished in the next instant, replaced with a confused look as her eyes wavered trying to find an answer. "Noire, why are we here in the store again?" Asked her wife.

Black Heart gasped and swallowed the huge lump she had in her throat. She felt lucky that she was still in HDD and was able to manage her frantic emotions. She hugged her wife, which felt right and kissed her forehead. "I'll fill you in, but hopefully it comes back. Now, let's head home. This is something that Histoire and Dr. Cardian need to know right away."

When they reached back to the Basilicom, Purple Heart was put to bed rest to avoid any more moments that could confuse her, and make her fearful of any situations.

In the room that the pregnant CPU was resting in, Dr. Cardian had made an at home visit to the CPUs. She wasn't the only one in the room. Minus the pregnant CPU, there was also Noire, who stood at the doorway to give the doctor some space, and Histoire, who was next to her.

Histoire quietly spoke to Noire who had been biting on her thumb in worry. "How bad has this progressed?"

"It only started to happen just today, and so far, it's been a wide arrange of things that she has forgotten. It hasn't been long term with it coming back after forgetting certain things," said Noire.

That statement put Histoire at ease as she gazed on to see what the doctor could do for Purple Heart.

Dr. Cardian had just finished checking the CPU's temperature, along with other checks that gauged Purple Heart's health. "You seem to be doing alright with no fever present. And there isn't any pain that you are feeling either." She paused for a second as she looked unsure of what to recommend.

Noire moved forward with a thought that she had in her mind. "Dr. Cardian, I have no real proof that this could work, but there are certain foods that help with memory. Could it be possible that it might help her?" Asked Noire.

"Hmm, well… it's possible, especially with the fact that Lady Neptune is a CPU and is experiencing baby effects on a grand scale."

"Does that mean for certain that this is a baby related effect?" Asked Histoire.

"That's the only real conclusion I can come up with. She's healthy as a fiddle and… mostly, CPUs are free from out of the blue health and mental conditions that humans can get in their life—even if she is pregnant at the time. But I think what you suggested will help out."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, there are reports that pregnant women become forgetful during pregnancy due to high levels of hormones in the brain. This looks to be the case."

"Oh, thank you, doctor—thank you!" Cried Noire who didn't wait for permission to shake her hand.

"I didn't do anything really. No, this should go away over time."

Everyone in the room could breathe a sigh of relief from the good news.

"Thank you, Dr… ah." The pregnant CPU grew a giant blush on her face as she had completely forgotten the doctor's name.

"D-Don't force yourself, my lady. The doctor is what's most important, so don't go forgetting that," she said with a light-hearted laugh.

"—Cardian! It's Dr. Cardian. S-Sorry for yelling it out," said Purple Heart with her pulling the covers of her bed ever so slightly higher to hide her embarrassment.

A while later, when Dr. Cardian had left, Noire was in the kitchen making some lunch for her wife. Noire had just finished making a nice green tea that she had to ask Vert over the phone how to get right. The black-haired girl had been known to make coffee—and a fine one at that—but she never bothered to perfect her teas as Vert had done over the years. Alongside that tea, she had whipped up a couple of hard-boiled eggs that had been cut in half and seasoned. She also cooked a salmon fillet with broccoli and a small bowl of walnuts.

Histoire had entered the room with the smell of cooking captivating her nose. "Oh, have you finally finished cooking?" She asked.

"I sure did. All this here is brain food that helps boosts memory. Hopefully, this helps her a little," she said with her voice full of hope.

"It might be a stretch that this could help her. At least her forgetfulness is only temporary," said Histoire.

Noire agreed and took the food on a tray to their room. She knocked on the door to her room with Histoire behind her, but they both didn't hear a response.

Noire opened the door to see her wife with earphones as she played a game on her handheld. All that the black-haired girl could do was make a face of disapproval at what she was seeing and that even though her wife was in HDD, she still had that feeling of playing her games.

It took a while for Purple Heart to noticed that they had entered and she pulled off her headphones when she saw the food. "That smells really wonderful, Noire," she said with a carefree smile on her face.

"Neptune, I told you to take a nap to get some rest," stated Noire.

"You did? Sorry, I must have forgotten."

This caused Noire and Histoire to both look at each other oddly.

"Neptune, you are aware of your condition at the moment, right?" Asked Histoire.

"Umm, by condition, do you mean being pregnant?"

"No, I mean do you know why we asked you to get some rest?" Stated Histoire as she tried to see what was the extent of what she had forgotten.

Noire quietly spoke to Histoire. "It's a losing battle, Histoire. Not only has she forgotten about us telling her to get rest, but also of the fact that she's aware that she's having memory problems. Hmph, that's going to change as of now." Noire had spent the next few minutes feeding her wife the fish and eggs she had prepared.

"That was amazing, Noire—but then again, you always know how to cook," said Purple Heart as she finished off the rest of her walnuts.

"Why… you're very welcome," said Noire who felt lighter than air when her wife complimented her.

"Although, I don't think that the meal had helped my memory at all," said Purple Heart who looked like she was straining herself to remember.

"Wait, Neptune, it has! You just remembered that you have been forgetting things just now!" Said Histoire.

"Oh! That's true! Noire, it's all coming back to me. Thank you… umm." She was going to say Histoire's name but for the life of her, she couldn't remember. "T-Thank you small and kind fairy," said Purple Heart ultimately.

"Ah!" The small fairy had lost her ability to float in the air as she crashed hard to the ground. "Neptune, do you not know who I am!?" Shouted Histoire.

"F-From your shouting, I'm sensing that I should. Forgive me, but I guess the food didn't really help. I must have gained something back while also losing something in return," said Purple Heart.

"But that seems like a terrible trade that you would remember you having memory problems while also forgetting about me—I'm basically your mother!" Shouted Histoire in despair.

"My mother? But you're so tiny," said Purple Heart.

"Not in a literal sense, Neptune. Jeez, look, let's all just calm our emotions down, okay? Neptune, this is Histoire. She's been your close business partner from the first day you were born while also being like a mother to you with how lazy you were in the past. She's always been there with you solving all your worries and being the best friend you could ever have, she's family."

"Histoire, I'm sorry for not remembering you," said Purple Heart with a solemn bow of the head in shame.

"It's not your fault, Neptune. let's just count our blessings that it isn't anything severe like amnesia that you once had," said the tiny fairy.

Noire, like a good wife, stood by her wife's side for the whole day. She only hoped that tomorrow would bring better things.

 **(The next day)**

Noire fluttered her eyes open as she tried to get rid of the sunlight that had entered their room via the window. She yawned quietly before turning onto her side to hug her wife. However, her hand made no contact as she noticed that her wife was absent from the bed.

"N-Neptune?" She scanned the room with heavy eyes that tried to convince her to go back to sleep, but that soon faded with worry now seeping into her mind. She left her room to head to the kitchen but she didn't find her wife like she had been expecting.

"Neptune?!" She said loudly into the vacant kitchen that reached the living room and beyond. Her chest started to rise with anxiety. She then noticed that a piece of paper was sitting on the table with a pen next to it. She picked up the paper but the only words were, "Going…"

It appeared that more was going to be written but for some reason, it stopped.

While Noire looked at the paper in confusion and horror, Histoire had entered the kitchen with her hand rubbing the tiredness of her eyes. "What's with all the shouting at this time of day?" She asked softly.

"Neptune's missing, Histoire," said Noire while she held up the paper so that the fairy could see.

"W-What? Hmm… oh dear, by the look of this, it would appear that she tried making a note for us and forgot to finish it."

"Dammit, Neptune! Talk about the worst time to have that kick in. But where is she?!" Cried Noire.

"Let's relax to analyze the situation—"

"—How can I relax when my wife and my unborn daughter are lost out there in Gamindustri!?" Cried Noire who dropped to the floor in a comedic manner as she got lost in her own hysteria.

"Okay… first of all, Neptune can't fly, so she has to be somewhere in this part of Old Planeptune. Plus, she's pregnant, so walking anywhere far in this part of Nepstation is unlikely."

"You're right! I'm going to head to the reception office to form a search party." Noire bolted out of her home with thoughts of Neptune being endangered with her semi-amnesia running rampant in her mind.

Histoire sighed as she looked around the room for clues. "Oh, Noire. It's sweet how much you care for Neptune, but it doesn't help the situation when you let your emotions get the better of you." She looked around until her eyes caught sight of something in the trash. She picked up a box from the trash that turned out to be cereal. "CPU Choco Chips? This is Neptune's favorite cereal—regardless of her HDD or human form." She noticed another empty box underneath it as well. "And this… an empty pudding case…"

Her eyes landed next to the sink where she saw a perfectly clean bowl that looked ready to be used. "Going to the…" Her eyes opened wide in relief as she was able to piece the situation together from the half-completed note, an empty box of cereal, and the clean bowl that was awaiting usage. She floated out of the housing unit with hopes that Noire hadn't taken exaggerated measures.

When Histoire reached the reception room, she could see Noire talking with a giant group of Basilicom workers.

"…and that's what's happening at the moment. My wife is out there—lost—and she's probably tired from walking around aimlessly. We need to make a search party before she gets herself in a horrible situation from her memory problems!"

Histoire sighed from being too late but adored the driven looks of motivation that were shown from the Basilicom workers.

"Yes, Ma'am! We won't rest until we find Lady Neptune and is back home safe!" Shouted the Basilicom workers with high energy.

"That's what I like to hear, thank you all!" Said Noire happily.

Histoire then floated in between Noire and the group with a sheepish smile. "Everyone, let me also say that your dedication is heartwarming to see. However, I doubt we won't be expending too much energy from our search. She held up the empty box of CPU Choco Chips that made everyone tilt their heads.

"Wait, that's Neptune's favorite cereal!" Said the black-haired CPU.

"Yes, it is. I found it in the trash along with an empty pudding box. Something tells me that she…" before Histoire could finish her sentence, she looked over to the doors that led outside and saw two people that had just entered through. "…Oh, it looks like the situation will explain it better than me," she said with a relieved smile.

Everyone looked to the doors to see Purple Heart and a police officer standing there. "Huh, is this where I live?" Asked Purple Heart who seemed to look around with confused eyes while she carried a bag close to her chest and was dressed in a lazy outfit composed of a form-fitting blue shirt, and stretchy black pants.

"Y-Yes, my Lady. You must be tired from such a long morning you had," said the police officer with a sweatdrop on her face. For her, she had received a call early from the station that Lady Purple Heart had been walking around the local grocery market proclaiming that she was lost.

"Neptune!" Cried Noire as she ran up to her wife. She didn't even care that she might embarrass herself in front of her workers by showing this protective side of her, although, they already knew how much Lady Noire showed affection for her wife behind closed doors.

"Huh? N-Noire!" Shouted Purple Heart with joy from finally seeing someone she knew.

"W-Where in Gamindustri have you been? You had me worried sick!" Stated Noire with a big pout that she couldn't hide from everyone.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, sweetie. I woke up early today wanting some CPU Choco Chips but we ran out. I also ran out of pudding at the point that I really wanted to eat one. So, I went to our nearby store to buy some. I… want to say that I left a note as to where I was going," she didn't feel so certain about the last part because she looked like she was really recollecting hard on that.

Histoire interjected on that subject. "Firstly, it's good to see you safe and sound, Neptune. As for the note… you didn't finish it with it only saying that you were going somewhere."

"I did? Oh, forgive me you two. Yes, that memory is coming back now. I paused halfway confused as to why I was writing the note. I took a small walk around the Basilicom until that part came back to me and immediately went to the store to get the things."

"That's where I can add to the story, Lady Noire and Madam Histoire. We received a call that Lady Neptune was walking around the store confused and afraid. She kept telling people that she didn't know where her home was."

"Yes, after I bought the things that I needed, I… forgot where we lived, Noire," said Purple Heart with a blush.

"You forgot?!"

"That sounds quite troublesome. Officer, thank you for assisting Lady Neptune and bringing her home. Lately, she has been experiencing forgetfulness on a grand level due to her pregnancy," said Histoire.

"That explains a lot, thank you, and it wasn't a problem for me at all," said the police officer politely.

"Thank you for driving me back home, officer. I want you to take this as a token of my gratitude." Purple Heart pulled out a pudding cup from the bag and handed it to the officer.

"M-My Lady!? It's nothing really but I accept your token," said the officer with a happy smile. Not many people could say that they were handed a pudding cup from their goddess, and now she had joined a select few.

"It's the least I can do for all the ruckus I caused at the store. Now, I think I need to sit down and rest my feet," she said regardless of the fact that she was driven back home.

A little while later, Purple Heart was enjoying her cereal with delight plastered across her face. Noire and Histoire on the other hand, wherein the doorway to the kitchen deep in thought.

"This is going to be more difficult than anticipated. With the way Neptune is dealing with her forgetfulness, she will need more eyes looking out for her," said Histoire.

"I'm a few steps ahead on that with letting the front desk know to keep an eye out if Neptune heads out without one of us with her."

"That's a good start, but we do need to find out a way to keep an eye on her here in the house when we both have to work. I would hate for her to have to deal with the forgetfulness effect by herself," said Histoire.

"Then I'll just have to stay here," said Noire with no hesitation.

"It's not that simple. We need to keep the work flowing in our nation."

As they were both deep in thought, a loud bang started to come from the front door.

"Who could that be?!" Proclaimed Histoire while it quickly dawned on Noire.

A voice then came from the other side with great urgency that would put a town crier to shame. "Hello!? It's Nepgear and Uni—open the door please."

"Is Nepgear here because of what happened to Neptune?" Histoire looked at Noire who shifted her body in place.

"Well… I sort of called them for their help finding her but… I didn't use any lenient words that could have broken the news to them," said Noire with her index fingers connected together.

"Oh, dear," sighed Histoire. She opened the door to let the rush of violent waves that were Nepgear's hysteria. She would have hated to be in a room with Noire and Nepgear in full on panic mode.

"Ah! Where's Neptune?!" She didn't even give Histoire time to even respond as she dashed passed her.

Uni quietly walked in with her actions being almost unmemorable compared to Nepgear's actions. She gave Histoire a little bow before clearing her throat. "I tried to calm her down on the way here. Sadly, no luck on that department," she said with a sigh.

"It's okay, Uni. Neptune is here now and she's resting."

In the kitchen, Nepgear halted with relieve when she saw her big sister looking at her with wide eyes and a mouth with cereal still being chewed. "Oh, Neptune! I was so worried when Noire called me saying that you were lost in Gamindustri with another case of amnesia."

Purple Heart looked at her and finished the bite of food in her mouth. "I'm sorry to have made you worried. Umm… would you mind reminding me who you are again," she said sheepishly knowing that question might cause some heartache.

Nepgear felt like her soul and heart were ripped out of her chest, while she felt like she was split into three different dimensions. She retreated to the corner of the kitchen in sadness as she was unable to keep on living.

"Don't be dramatic, Nepgear. I say, you can act as goofy as your sister when you want too," said Histoire who had walked into the room with Uni and Noire.

"I… I… I prepared myself for her not knowing me but to actually feel it first hand is too much," cried Nepgear.

"My sister? Oh, I meant no harm when I asked you that question. From what I can recollect of my situation, I have been forgetting things here and there as a result of the… of the…"

"…of the baby, Neptune. Nepgear, she doesn't have amnesia like Noire probably put it on the phone. She's been forgetting things and people but only for short periods. And when she does forget, it's balanced out with her remembering something else she forgot."

"This might sound like the bad time to say this but I do remember you now, Histy," said Purple Heart with a smile.

"Oh, that's wonderful, Neptune!" Said Histoire.

"Do you know who I am?" Asked Uni who didn't mind if she was actually forgotten; it felt more like a fun game of remember me to her.

"You're Noire's sister…" she wanted to say more, however, her eyes moved back and forth as she tried to pinpoint her name. "… I'm sorry. I'm having trouble remembering your name."

"Pfft, that's good enough. It's Uni by the way."

"I'm surprised on the things that Neptune is forgetting in short moments but there is one good point that she has yet to forget," said Histoire with a look to Noire.

"Like what?" Asked Purple Heart which sounded hilarious since she should have known it as well.

"Well, you've forgotten places, me, Uni's name, and everything about your sister, however, you haven't forgotten a single thing about Noire have you?"

Everyone stopped to look at Purple Heart for her answer. Her face broke a wide smile as a wonderful thought had crossed her mind. She slowly started to rub her belly with more giggles from her voice. "That is true. Even when I lost my way at the grocery store and I didn't know how to get back home—or even know how home looked like, there was the thought that Noire was worried sick about me. And yes, there hasn't been a single moment that I didn't know who my wife was."

"Oh, wow. That's so sweet, Neptune," said Nepgear with a smile.

Noire was blushing madly and her heart felt light with that revelation. She went up to her and gave her a big hug that Purple Heart responded to.

"That took a huge worry off my back. I guess maybe the foods I made are helping you out," said Noire with a prideful air around her as she took the credit.

Purple Heart laughed lightly from her wife's statements. "Maybe… or maybe this reason belongs to Euri. I like to think that she's helping me from forgetting her other mommy."

That lovely statement made Noire's heart burst that she staggered backward. Luckily, Uni was behind her to catch her sister.

This ordeal of Purple Heart had only begun as her friends and family would work together to help her in this time of crisis. While she might forget them here and there, their actions of love and kindness would be her guide.

 **I feel bad that this chapter took so long to make but life had me busy. It also didn't help that I got a terrible case of writer's block from this chapter. It was tricky for me on how to approach this chapter and had to redo it until all the ideas started to fit in. This one definitely feels short to me but that's okay since the last two chapters are going to be a perfect amount with the conclusions that are waiting. The forgetfulness is still going to be showing in the next chapter, so stay tuned to see how that impacts the wedding day of Unigear. Thank you all for reading and I'll see you all in the next one.**

 **Oh, almost forgot. Who else is excited for Super Neptunia RPG coming out? I'm eagerly excited to dive back into Neptunia and maybe get some inspiration to use in future stories.**


	8. Prelude To The Future

**Hello. Before the story starts I would like to thank you all for reading these chapters and for the patience. There was a thing that I wanted to address in the last chapter with the car seat gift. A lot of you had the impression that it was a car, but what I meant to write was that it was a baby's car seat used for transporting a baby safely in a car. I should have added more detail to that, so that's my bad. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

 **Chapter 8: Prelude To The Future**

The sun bled through the middle gaps of the curtains that were supposed to shield the room from light. The rays moved up until they hit the face of a certain pregnant CPU. She yawned and slowly lifted herself from the warm confines of the bed, and while she did that, her left hand searched for her significant other. She came up empty as this alerted her senses and eyes to open to see that Noire was nowhere in sight. "N-Noire?"

It was at this moment that she noticed a piece of paper resting on top of the sheets where her legs were. She quickly scanned the note that read, "Neptune, today is Uni and Nepgear's wedding day. If you have forgotten and don't understand who those two are, then, they are our little sisters. Don't go anywhere since you are very pregnant—I can't stress that enough. Breakfast is waiting for you in the living room, and I'll be back in a few hours after taking care of some work things."

"Oh, Noire. It's sweet of you to think that my memory is as bad as it was all those weeks back." Purple Heart smiled softly at the note. She hadn't forgotten her little sister's big day—at least, for the time being.

Over the course of these past few weeks, her memory had its ups and its downs; preferably with the later ones in the month being far less hindering to her memory. At that point, she only forgot certain things related to people and not everything about them, but Noire didn't see it that way yet and took no chances with the constant notes that she grew into the habit of making for her. These notes were to help her keep things in mind for the chance that it might kick start her memory.

She made her way to the living room and it was at this time that she paused in embarrassment. "Wh-What was I doing out here again?" She looked around for a clue and that was when she noticed another note taped onto a stick to hold it up that was on top of the table. The note read, "Breakfast, over here!"

"That's right, food. Ugh, I would have gotten that after thinking about it for a minute!" She humorously yelled into the empty living room.

After eating her meal that was composed of eggs, mini sweet potato cuts, and avocado, she made her way to the baby's room that made her smile at all the baby things that surrounded her. With these wonderful feelings that brought her to smile, these same feelings brought anxiety.

Purple Heart soon paced around the baby's room with this newfound anxiety plaguing her mind. The idea of the arrival of the baby was fastly approaching, and the pregnant CPU still had some hardships to get through. Besides her memory problems, her symptoms had started to appear in unpredicted patterns. Vomiting, fatigue, lack of hunger, and others taking turns. She was happy that the lack of hunger didn't decide to intrude today considering the breakfast was delicious and her little sister's wedding event was going to have a wonderful spread of food that she was anticipating. She paused from her walking to feel Euri stirring that caused her mild pain.

Dr. Cardian had told her that it was because the baby was pushing on the rib cage. "This could be the baby moving or… it could be heartburn. Ugh, it doesn't matter at this point. I just want you to be born already so that I can hold you in my arms," she said softly. Her words sounded sweet and filled with hints of half delusions with the fact that her unborn daughter couldn't understand her, and it wasn't her fault that it felt like she was taking forever to be born.

Her wife, Black Heart had entered the room with her eyes landing on her wife. She couldn't help but smile at her wife's pouts that she was exhibiting. "There you are, Neptune. Hmm, crying isn't going to make Euri come out anytime soon. She'll come out when she thinks she's ready," she said lovingly as she escorted Purple Heart to the soft armchair.

"Oh, I know that. It's just the strain, stress, and excitement from seeing Euri is what's making me all emotional."

"That's understandable, you're pretty much going to get two dogoos with one symbol attack when Euri is born," said Black Heart.

Purple Heart laughed at that joke. "Hmm, indeed. I will no longer have all these symptoms, and Euri will be in my arms."

Black Heart smiled softly at her wife and placed a kind hand on her shoulder. "We will shower her with all the love that we can ever hold. That… is a guarantee," she said with a kiss to Purple Heart's lips.

For the meantime, a kiss here and a kiss there was their only highest act of passion that they exchanged, but they both knew that it was enough for them during this transition into parents.

"Why are you in HDD, Noire?" Asked Purple Heart the question that had been marinating for a while now and had become her curiosity.

"Well, I wanted to match with you. We are going to the wedding with cameras and paparazzi swarming all over the place that I just wanted to look good."

"Are you sure that you'll be able to handle it?"

"It's just for today, and I promise that once the wedding is over, I'll go back to my base form to enjoy the after-party. And speaking of that, we should get ready to head to North Nepstation where Uni and Nepgear are getting the finishing touches to their wedding," said Black Heart as she helped her wife get up.

They got dressed in their room. While this was happening, they were both facing the other way but Black Heart had turned her head to see her wife who was in mid-change from her old shirt to her new shirt. The sight of red marks across her wife's protruding belly was enough to make her do a stung face at how much stress her body was in.

Purple Heart caught her wife looking at her and that caused Black Heart to flinch and stand up straight. "Ack! S-Sorry for looking," said Black Heart with a cough to clear her voice.

"Hmm… you have nothing to feel sorry about, honey. You are the only one that I would ever allow to see me in this state. Just the thought of anyone else seeing me would make me take a page from Blanc and whack them with a huge hammer," she said happily.

Black Heart couldn't test the viability of that considering that Dr. Cardian would technically be the only other one to see her without her shirt, and technically, the good doctor had to see her wife for medical reasons. "Ri-Right… I want you to know that you're still beautiful to me. That hasn't changed in the slightest," said Black Heart.

Her wife smiled at her warmly and nothing else was needed to express the love they felt for each other. They took the train that they took during Nepmas time and where this wonderfully unexpected journey had started.

 **(Uni and Nepgear)**

In North Nepstation, the land that was once known as Lastation. The soon to be married couple were enjoying their private moments in bed. They were snuggled dangerously close to one another that one might mistake them for one person under the covers.

Uni was the one holding her fiancée while she trailed light kisses all over Nepgear's neck.

"Hmm… goodness, Uni. We should really be getting out of bed soon," said Nepgear who, regardless of her words, was actually leaning into the kisses and letting herself drown in this passion that Uni was instilling.

"This is our big day, Nepgear. Why should we give up this moment that we have the right too? And I do want to add that we couldn't have any time to ourselves when we practically lived on our older sisters' couches when we decided to stay and help Neptune with the baby and her memory problems." Proclaimed Uni with a drunken passion that made her think illogically.

"Uni! This is only the start of our life together. We can have plenty of these moments, but now, we need to get ready for our sisters, and everyone else is heading this way."

Uni finally agreed to let go of Nepgear who took this moment to jump out of bed to avoid falling back into that yearning habit.

"You know, we might not be able to have that level of intimate union that our sisters have but at this moment, I truly feel like you're the other half that I can't live without."

"Ah! Uni, don't say sweet things like that or else I might be the irresponsible one and keep us here in bed all day!"

"Oh, my bad. I just wanted to let you know that."

"Oh, Uni. I already know that."

"I know that you know but that doesn't mean I'm never going to keep proclaiming it," stated Uni.

The two of them went back to bed, if only for a moment's time.

 **(Wedding time- Sometime later)**

The soon to be married couple had occupied a holy grand building that took on some of the qualities of a chapel that most people that lived near that building would easily associate it as one. Some of these qualities were goddess tokens and tributes that littered the walls and edges of the floor. Others were window stained designs that depicted Old Lastation's ideal concept of a goddess as that said goddess took up her divine sword to protect the nation. Even the air oozed with divinity that gave off the sense that this was a place of faith and protection from any malefic force. This chapel had been a part of Lastation for years that one could say that this was a pillar of the community that had formed around it with various people in the past marking the place as the ideal place to start their union.

The chapel was white and surprisingly big, and tall with the lighting of the sun making it shine like a pearl in the warm sunny day. Laughter had started to seed the air, and where this was coming from were from kids of all kind, but mostly from Rom, Ram, and Peashy.

Where the chapel stairs resided at the front, all the CPUs from both Hyper and Ultra were funneling into the building. They all had beautiful dresses that were all color-coded to fit the theme of Uni and Nepgear's wedding. This theme was dresses of black or blue, with hints of white or pink.

Purple Heart and Black Heart stood gazing at the big chapel with proud smiles. They wore a matching color of blue and pink that made them feel elegant.

"You don't think that these colors will take attention away from our sisters?" Asked Purple Heart.

"No, why?" Stated Black Heart.

"It just feels like all the cameras and paparazzi are going to be trained on us. Look, they're already doing it," proclaimed Purple Heart when she pointed to guard rails that created a designated path into the chapel but had media people taking pictures.

"I wouldn't worry about that. They are only taking pictures now to slightly feed their hunger of the story. When the time comes, they are going to shift to our little sisters when they take the stage. Yes, I really doubt that anything else could upstage my little sister's aura on her wedding day."

"Hmm, I love that prideful spark in your eyes when you talk about how great Uni is. Yes, makes me joyful to see the wonderful big sister you are," said Purple Heart.

A little time later, and moving away from the CPUs and everyone else, deep inside the chapel, there stood a black-haired girl in front of a mirror inside a room that housed a stand used to display an outfit. There wasn't that much to say about the room with its only means being used to help the girl get herself ready for her big day.

The black-haired girl was dressed in white with her hand resting on a purple amethyst necklace that was positioned around the neck.

Her smile broadened from the beautiful memory of the day she had received this necklace from the one that she loved, from the one that she was ready to spend the rest of her days with.

Her red eyes moved up to see the mirror and she could see red eyes staring back at her. What those eyes were full of, were confidence, and passion that completely destroyed any doubts that she had for this day.

A knock was heard making the black-haired girl turn around. "Come in," she said softly.

The door opened to reveal her older sister who was dressed in a dark blue dress with a pink waist sash. "Uni, you look so beautiful in that dress," said Noire who's breath had been taken away by seeing her little sister looking radiant.

Uni grew a blush on her face with her smile widening. "T-Thanks, big sis. I hope that Nepgear will think the same way."

"Uni, she's practically going to have her jaw hitting the ground. Oh, this day truly puts a smile on my face. My little sister is finally going to get the happiness that she deserves."

Uni smiled at her big sister's words. "Jeez, Noire. I… It's not really a big deal since this is us just tying the knot on happiness that I've had for a while now. You, Nepgear, and even Neptune are my family. That's more than enough happiness for me, honestly," said Uni who looked away with a blush from having the will to say what was always on her mind. She then felt gentle hands rest on the sides of her shoulders while she could feel relaxing rubbing rotations contacting with the fabric of her dress. This gesture was her older sister trying to relax her tense nerves.

"I'm… happy that we are able to get this closed as sisters, Uni. I know that we never really expressed our feelings to each other until that day that you were strong enough to tell me that you were seeing Nepgear. I'll admit, I wish that topic would have been approached better than our shouting and your ideas that I wouldn't accept it, but… if a bridge gets you across it's a bridge," she said with a sheepish laugh at her own joke. "Anyway, I'm happy that we can be this sisterly to each other now," she said with a soft smile that almost made Uni cry in warm joy on the spot.

"N-Noire, don't say that. We were already sisterly enough before that. I… always knew that you cared about me and wanted me to be better," said Uni.

"Still, the direct approach was always the better option instead of indirect conversations about our feelings that we always interacted with. Sometimes it's better to just say I'm proud of you."

Uni laughed in joy to overpower this wave of raw emotions of happiness, sadness, and pain that had been brought out by this painful and joyful conversation of the past.

No more words were needed as Uni and Noire hugged tightly to once again show how far their sisterly bond had come.

The time was at hand. In the chapel, Uni stood in her white dress as she gazed at the double doors that her future wife would soon grace. She looked to her right to see her big sister, along with Green Heart, and White Heart. To her front, and sitting at the front seats, Plutia—who was sitting to the far left as possible away from Ultra Neptune and Ultra Noire, was sitting with her Blanc as Uzume, Ultra Vert, Peashy, Ultra Histoire, Histoire, and Umio were seated in the center where to provide that buffer space between the CPU rivals.

The second row, IF, Compa, Rom, Ram, and a whole lot of other people that she had met in her past were seated while they cheered her on.

She gave them a smile but swallowed hard in nervousness when the double doors of the chapel opened up.

What came first from those double doors, was a wave of radiant light from the outside that blinded Uni and the other occupants of the room. When the light had faded, she saw the love of her life walking down the aisle with Purple Heart.

The nervous excitement in Nepgear's face could be shown as she walked slowly with her sister toward her future wife. Even though Nepgear had the same dress design as Uni, Uni could confidently say that her love wore it better. Of course, the same thoughts could be said from Nepgear to Uni.

"Sister, thank you for being the one to let me go on my wedding day," said Nepgear quietly to her sister as they were walking to the front.

There was a cute annoyance of discomfort from Purple Heart who, due to her pregnant state, felt soreness embedded in every step she took. That went away quickly when she addressed her little sister. "Nonsense, it's the job of the older sister to take up this responsibility when it must fall on her, regardless if I'm pregnant or not," said Purple Heart sweetly.

"I'm so happy that your memory isn't messing with you at the moment."

"No, I won't allow myself to forget, especially at this moment," stated Purple Heart. They reached the front where Purple Heart released Nepgear so that she could stand with Uni.

Uni sucked in some air before she spoke. "Nepgear, you look… you look… so amazing," said Uni with a smile.

"Th-Thanks, Uni. But you are the one that is remarkably amazing right now," said Nepgear.

Black Heart and Purple Heart retreated to their seats that were in the front as the ceremony started. Before taking their seats, they noticed that it was going to be a tight fit. They then saw signs from both Ultra Neptune and Plutia to seat with them on their side in which they managed to make some space for them. Purple Heart looked conflicted, but it didn't last long enough when Black Heart gently pulled her away to the seats across from their friends as she knew this was the most amicable option. This action caused both Plutia and Ultra Neptune to make a silent pout in acceptance, while Uzume gave Black Heart a thumbs up for her fast thinking. The holy priestess of the chapel walked forward with a smile toward Uni and Nepgear who stood holding hands in front of her. Even though her title was coined from the Basilicom and the people of the community that deemed it so, she, in her eyes, was merely a servant that took care of the chapel with the authority and right to bind two hearts together. Her existence was a humble one that when the candidates asked her to marry them, she couldn't say no to her goddesses.

"My lady Uni, and my Lady Nepgear. This is a joyous moment. Are you both ready to start?" She said kindly. They both nodded to give her the go-ahead. "Everyone! Today we stand on a joyous day in which we see two CPUs unite in an everlasting proof of love and union. Sadly, this isn't a union much like their older sisters or those of the other CPUs. On this note, I will let Lady Uni be the one to present this further." She pointed to Uni who was ready to start.

"Nepgear, I can't give you the same things that our sisters have. Heck, our nations are already joined through them and when that happened, I could already feel that we were already bonded with another layer. A part of me wished that we could have been the ones to take up that union, but we are merely candidates. I can't give you a daughter or a longer life, although, we pretty much get that since our sisters are going to rule over the nation for just a little bit longer." She said the last part with humbleness and competitive tones that told everyone that she was going to work hard to prove that one day she and Nepgear would be the ones leading the nations. Maybe at that point, they would be able to have their own kid, maybe.

Histoire floated close to Uni's ear to utter some words. "Psst, you're rambling Uni."

Uni knew that she was going to fall into that habit, so she made sure to let Histoire know. "Oh, r-right. I guess in a shorter version: I love you, and the promise of being faithful and united through marriage is enough for me. Because even then, I will never stop making you feel like the center of my world."

"U-Uni…" Nepgear looked like she wanted to cry a sea of tears from that display of love.

"And there is the speech that I have yet to say. And I know that I've said a lot already but this rings true throughout my heart and soul. When we first had our first encounters, I thought to myself, 'Oh crap, here comes, Nepgear,'" said Uni with a cheery smile that was a reference to Nepgear having that effect that people didn't want her around.

This caused Nepgear's spirits to lower, but they didn't stay that low when Uni started up again.

"… now, all I think is 'Oh, wow, here comes Nepgear,'" finished Uni that earned her laughs of heartwarming joy from the crowd.

"That was lovely, Lady Uni. Now, Lady Nepgear, it's your turn," said the priestess.

"I don't know if I could ever top off the sweet speech from Uni but… I'll speak from my heart. Like you said about our first encounters. When I saw you, I saw a strong person that was ready to do anything to rescue her sister—I wished I had that drive from the very start, but… I needed to overcome my fear first. But not you. You were only held down by your doubts of your strength being enough… but you were strong enough. It was that confidence that you felt unworthy to completely revel in. You were strong but sad, and I found something beautiful in that, Uni. Now, we stand here today—completely overcoming our flaws. My fears have been overcome, and your confidence is now radiating like burning share energy. I love you Uni and I promise you that together, we will never allow ourselves to devolve into what we once were."

"Nepgear…" tears had appeared around Uni's eyes as Nepgear was quick to help brush her tears away.

"I can see you both have poured your words out. But as they say, words can only go so far. It's times like these that actions are needed. The priestess signaled for the ring bearers to show themselves. The ones holding the gold wedding bands that were resting in a nice white pillow was Rom and Ram who had on white dresses with a waist sash that corresponded to their HDD color.

Both Uni and Nepgear thanked them as they picked up the rings.

Uni was the first to place the wedding band onto her wife. "This is all my love funneled into one shot," proclaimed Uni who never looked away from Nepgear as she placed the ring onto her wife's finger.

"And this is all my love funneled into one shot," copied Nepgear with a giggle as she never looked away from her wife and placed the ring onto her finger.

They both then shared a kiss that was followed by a huge roar of cries from all the recipients in that chapel.

This day was glorious for it was the day that Uni and Nepgear were joined as one. Maybe not through direct share energy but through transcendent love that bound them together.

The scene had changed to a fancy hotel venue that they used for their after party. It wasn't that long when the newly married couple were sharing their first dance together with hands wrapped around each other in a perfect meld that would have been a tragedy to see part. Their love was expressed through their aura, their movements, hand positions around their waist, their hearts, and even their eyes as they continued to dance in harmony.

Over at the tables, they were pretty much empty with Purple Heart looking very dejected. "Ugh, why did I have to get my feet swollen at a time like this? All I wanted was to dance with my little sister on her big day," she said as she couldn't help but eat another piece of cake that belonged to Noire.

Noire could hardly care less about her cake being eaten. However, seeing her wife in this state did make her sad. "It can't be helped, Neptune. Your sister is enjoying her dance with Uni. Let's not interrupt them of this moment."

"But… but… I wanted to dance…"

"—Well, I never said that you couldn't dance," she lifted herself from the chair and extended her hand out to Purple Heart.

"—Noire!?"

"What? You don't want to dance with me?" Asked Noire with a slight frown.

"I just didn't figure that you were in the mood. Plus, my feet are swollen from all the walking today," declared Purple Heart.

Currently, Noire felt drained from having her HDD active for almost the whole day, but when it came to love, she could make an exception. She changed into her HDD form now as Black Heart as she once again extended her hand. "We can get around the swollen feet for a few minutes, then we can sit back down. I'll also promise to give you a massage like you never imagined when we get home. For now, let us join the rest of the people on the dance floor."

The pregnant CPU could feel the confidence radiating from her wife that she couldn't say no. "I… I… I accept, my dear wife," said Purple Heart who slowly and sluggishly lifted herself from her chair. They then reached the dance floor that had other couples like Blanc and Vert, Uzume, and Ultra Vert, and even their ultra counterparts dancing.

"Just stay close to me while we dance," whispered Black Heart very firmly into her wife's ear. Before Purple Heart could even comprehend, Black Heart's blue wings had manifested behind her, and the pregnant CPU felt her feet rise from the floor. Black Heart smugly giggled playfully as they twirled around over the surface of the dance floor; which they were only an inch above the floor.

Purple Heart had her hands locked around her wife's neck, while Black Heart held her waist with her left and used her right to rub her wife's belly. "Just one more month left to go, Neptune. Do you think we're ready?"

"I don't think parents are ever ready to face taking care of a newborn, Noire. But that's the true joy of it all. The unexpected moments of surprise that little Euri is going to put us through. I think that a well-prepared parent can hardly wait for those moments."

"Yes, I know there is nothing to fear about raising her. She's going to be ours and will be the best of both of us—that I'm certain of. Once I see her little face, I'm never going to let her go."

The two hugged among the music, and atmosphere of love and happiness with the hope of the new day fresh in their minds. The distant sounds of baby cries and baby laughter could almost be heard by those two, but it was only in their minds for now. They couldn't wait to tackle both the good and the bad moments that their little girl would soon grace them with.

 **Thanks for reading everyone. There are a bunch of things that I want to say that relates to my stories but I'll leave that for the next chapter in the author's notes. My plan is to have the next one out around mid-August and I'll do my best to make that deadline. Take care, everyone!**


	9. Burning Countdown

**Hello everyone! It's been a few months since I've updated this story and I'm sorry for making you all wait so long. The reason for It was that after finishing up chapter nine, my computer met a sad end with some water damage. Needless to say that I was pretty down about that after having it finished. I took a break also because I didn't feel motivated to remake the chapter again. I let my writing responsibility take a backseat while I focused on life. I did work on it lightly on my downtime, and my desire to finally put this story to bed and focus on other stories never left. In the meantime, I'm using a tablet to write this down, and it's a real challenge. I do not want to leave you all high and dry since it's been a while since I updated my story, so... I'm going to power through it and write as much as I can from memory of chapter nine with a shorter version. Sorry in advance for any mistakes.**

 **Chapter** **9: Burning Countdown**

 **(West Nepstation Basilicom)**

Share energy. There has been a massive influx of share energy mixed into the air of Nepstation. The great reason for this was that all the citizens had been anticipating Lady Neptune's due date with prayers and wishes for her to have a safe delivery.

In the Basilicom, Histoire had been double-checking luggage. "Everything is in order, Neptune," she said as she rested on top of the luggage.

Purple Heart was dressed in a casual outfit with a blue shirt that had frills at the bottom. Her shirt also extended to support her large belly. "Thank you, Histoire. I could not have been able to get packed in this state."

"Well, luckily you have me to provide you that support, " she said with a giggle.

Histoire wasn't the only one helping out. Uzume and Uni were also present, of course, their presence had much to be desired. They soon came out of the kitchen with each of them holding a plate of food.

"Oh man, it's been so long since I had Noire's cooking, " she said joyously as she scraped and stabbed the plate of leftover food that was prepared last night.

Uzume had the same mindset as her who basically followed her actions. "Hmm, this is so good. Vertsy and I don't normally have home cook meals like this, even if it is a reheat," said the orange-haired girl.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked Uni.

Uzume got slightly sheepish at the question. "Well, we normally go out to eat at various restaurants, since we don't really have the best experience in cooking. Don't get me wrong, Vertsy knows her way around her tea and cakes. And I can make a good stew, but that's just it. We do eat at home on the weekends while we try some recipes but you can't beat the experience of going out on the town, and trying out exotic meals and then heading back home where we play video games together," said Uzume as she rambled.

Uni absorbed those words in stride with her mind painting a wonderful moment that she wanted to experience. "Wow! I almost feel like scowling Nepgear since we haven't even thought about going out for a night. We... normally stay home and have a quiet night while we cook food."

"That also sounds like a nice time. One day, I would like making sushi with Vertsy instead of going out to get it in some restaurant."

They both came to an understanding about their differences in dinner meals, unknown to them that Histoire was silently boiling over in irritation.

"How can you two so brazenly chat about food while you both raided our fridge?!" Shouted Histoire.

"Histoire?! W-We're sorry. It's just, I haven't had Noire's cooking for so long now," said Uni with a bow as her fork and plate clank in response. Uzume also did the same.

Histoire puffed her right cheek in frustration. "That's not fair you two. I also wanted the leftovers from last night and it was my chance to do that when I came home later tonight-"

"Ah!" All the drama in the room was soon directed onto a more pressing matter when Purple Heart shouted a piercing scream as water soon followed. The sound of water was the indication that Purple Heart's water had broken. If the sound wasn't a good indication of that happening, her shorts she had been wearing were all wet and water had stained the floor underneath her.

"Oh..." said Uzume.

"Crap..." added Uni.

"The baby is coming!" Shouted Histoire.

Purple Heart experienced a rising pain that channeled throughout her body from her back, abdomen, and legs. She had to focus her breathing to avoid herself from being swallowed from this rushing wave. The strength of her feet gave out as she started to lower to the ground.

"We got you!"

"Where's Noire?" Asked Uzume.

Uni looked away knowing the answer to the orange-haired girl's question and she tried to find the right words.

"Never mind that. To the hospital, ladies!" Shouted Histoire.

 **(Outskirts of West Nepstation, One Hour earlier.)**

Noire and Nepgear had made plans earlier on that same week where they were going to go to a settlement. They had taken a train ride that would take them to the border of the nation.

Due to reasons, they weren't able to fly over there leaving them with a guide that would take them the rest of the way. They met up with the guide that turned out to be a police lady with short brown hair and gray eyes. Shortly after their initial encounter, they had begun their road journey to the settlement.

The police lady had a standard issued police cruiser that was black and purple with Nepstation written on the sides in a logo form.

It was quite silent in the car after the police lady had given her name called Pacifica.

Nepgear decided to break the ice when she leaned forward from the backseat. "Officer Pacifica, thank you for taking us to the settlement, " said Nepgear.

"You can call me by my nickname, Pac. And it's no problem for me. The captain wanted someone fresh and available to take on this job. Luckily, I was just coming off some vacation time."

Noire who had been silent for most of the ride uncrossed her arms after realizing a recent memory. "Hey, sorry for being forward but aren't you the police officer that brought my wife back to the Basilicom when she had those memory problems?"

"Yeah, that was me. It's been a few months when that happened but it's funny how the chips fall that way," she said with a smile.

There was some light chatter that went on, then Noire decided to get serious. "Nepgear, I think it's time that we get to the main topic at hand."

Both Nepgear and officer Pac nodded. For Pac, she only knew what little the captain knew, and that was the place they were going and that this was a Basilicom/CPU request. What they both could truly understand was the name of the place and that gave them a silent understanding of what it might mean.

Noire cleared her throat and began to speak. "I'm sure you both know the name of this settlement quite well... Dragon's Den. This place is a settlement ruled by no CPU that is also close to the border of Planeptune. My goal today is to get them to join Nepstation, officially," declared Noire.

"Yes, we have tried it in the past but after Neptune tearing her hair apart in frustration from constant rejections, she cut her losses."

"That's where I come in. I manage to make a meeting with the leader and if things go smoothly, we might be able to work something out given that Nepstation has become so illustrious," bragged Noire rather boastfully

"Ah, so a little play on a social call?" Joked officer Pac who could see how devious her goddess was being.

Noire slightly blushed while she held her head up high. "Something like that. I have ulterior motives, but that's just it. I'm sure that we can come to some understanding."

After some time, they reached the settlement called Dragon's Den. That place was an impressive- fortified on all four walls- structure that had been designed to keep monsters away. It was perfectly in between a forest area and a medium-sized lake that helped it with basic necessities.

The CPUs and officer Pac had parked the cruiser outside the fortified settlement. Noire gazed at the structure and saw two guards up-top the walled fortress.

They looked down at her with long hard stares as they gripped the red spears that they held with a natural response that she could bring trouble. She could also see electricity produced from the tips of the spears

Officer Pac could also sense the hostility with her fingers slightly gravitating to her gun on her hip.

"It's okay. They are just doing their job. We aren't here to start trouble. We have a meeting with your leader!" Declared Noire.

The guards exchanged looks until a third one whispered something to one of them. In response to that, the giant double doors opened to allow them in.

As they advanced further in, they saw a woman with blond hair and purple eyes. Her clothing revealed that she was obviously important, yet it was also designed in a way that allowed her to tend to everyday chores like gardening or building construction. "Hello there, Lady Black Heart," said the woman with a polite tone that was a whole lot friendlier than the two guards.

"Hello, you must be Lady Heart, right?" Noire couldn't help but make a sour face when she first heard the name from Nepgear.

"Don't let that name get to you. It's a name that my people coined for me but I do not revel in it, nor do I agree with it since it goes against what my ideals are in a land without CPU aid. For now, just call me Vivi," she said in a humble manner.

"I see. I don't really mind at all. In fact, you protect these people, so that has to earn you some praise."

"We all keep ourselves protected. Let's talk back in my estate," said Vivi after seeing that a lot of her guards still looked tense.

Noire gazed at the surroundings that made up the settlement. She noticed up on the walls, there were machines that stood guard with the other human guards. Aside from that, she grew captivated at the robust community composed of women, men, and children from the fact that they all worked together. The kids were running around near a street with a playground nearby, the adults were building homes and other community constructs. Noire even saw gardeners and shop owners. "This place feels almost as busy as our downtown districts," said Noire.

"Indeed. Dragon's Den takes pride in the quality of life, and we don't settle for the bare minimum. I'm not sure if you know this but we are renowned for our high-grade ingredients that we trade from our gardens to companies and communities that wish to trade for various resources like tech, medicine, and any other useful things. In fact, there are a few key ingredients from our gardens that we use to make a fantastic pudding."

Noire's brain instantly made a connection from the mention of that. "That explains why Neptune was so interested in wanting to get this settlement to join Planeptune."

"W-Wait! Noire, Neptune isn't that cut and dry. She really wanted to have them join so that they wouldn't worry about the monsters!" said Nepgear.

"-the answer is no," declared Vivi with a stern face toward the CPUs.

"Huh?" Replied both Nepgear and Noire.

Vivi had her arms crossed with her foot tapping the ground firmly. "I thought that after a long time between her last attempt, she would have given up. I guess I have played myself for a fool when I thought this was actually a trade discussion."

"Hold on, don't throw Neptune into the mud. Us coming here was all my idea with her telling me it was a lost cause. I wanted to discuss with you a possible joining now that Planeptune and Lastation have merged," replied Noire.

"She's telling the truth. Neptune has accepted your independence but Noire sees that maybe now you might be willing to join. Not only would you have Planeptune's Basilicom for support but also Lastation as well," added Nepgear.

"Both of you still fail to understand. It's not about power, security, or how lucrative a nation has now become, it's never been about that! My father built this settlement with the sole goal of proving that people could live in a world that didn't care about them. That they could live without relying on the CPUs."

"What kind of messed up logic is that. A CPU is an extension of the people. It's the people's ability that this world gave to them to bring forth a ruler that will protect them," shouted Noire.

"And you think that's right? That the people should hide behind someone else's shadow?"

"Grr, get it through your head. Without the people, a CPU is useless..." Added Noire.

"-and without the CPU, the people are useless. Is that what you were going to say?" Interjected Vivi harshly.

"N-No..." Noire's hope for a successful outcome to her desired negotiations had gone up in flames. The black-haired girl could not get her thoughts collected when a machine that they spotted earlier up high the guard walls had appeared from behind Vivi. This machine had a bipedal form with physical features resembling that of a dragon.

Noire's instincts kicked in when she felt hostility from the machine. Not a second longer it took when it opened its mouth to fire an energy blast.

Everyone gasped, including Vivi with eyes wide.

Noire materialized her sword to deflect it at the last second. The blast wasn't enough to hurt her with it merely pushing her back an inch.

"Hey, you're engaging force against the CPU!" Proclaimed officer Pac as she pulled out her gun to aim it at the machine.

"I'm not doing any of this!" Tried Vivi to explain herself. "Drago Unit-078, stand down now!" She ordered but the machine made no response of stopping. In fact, it got ready for another energy blast.

Noire was about to launch herself for a strike, but then she saw a red spear fly straight at the machine's chest and going clean out the other way. That did the trick in shutting down the machine completely. That would have been great if that issue had been the only one. In quick succession, the other units of machines that had been placed to guard the walls had turned violent. The shouts of human guards filled the air as they were forced to fight back the mechanical wave. Their damage even extended to the citizens and the building strictures.

Everything blended together and the immediate issue was helping the defenseless people. Noire, and Nepgear, along with the guards, had formed a plan of attack as they fought back against the rampant menace.

The battle lasted for a few grueling minutes but they emerged victoriously. Sadly, the machines' destruction had left a sizable impression from the scorched and broken buildings to the dented and crumpled roads.

"Noire, are you okay?" Urged Nepgear for a response.

"I'm fine." After reassuring Nepgear, she stared hard at Vivi who looked dumbfounded and worried at the events that took place. "What was the meaning of this? Answer me or Officer Pacifica will have to do her duty and arrest you."

"I swear, I don't know what caused these machines to malfunction. And why would I even order the first one to attack you? These things are designed for countering monsters not CPUs." At the end of her argument, a paranoid realization had formed in her mind as she dangerously connected outcomes and reasons together. "How do I know that it wasn't one of you that did this?"

"Excuse me?!" Before Noire even knew, she and the others had been surrounded by guards with their weapons pointed toward them.

"It's you that caused all this chaos, right? What else explains our prestige defense units going rough like this?"

"You think we caused this?" Asked Nepgear with slight hesitation to her words.

"The facts are all over the place. These things were never designed to fight CPUs and you two didn't even transform!"

"Now you hold on! I will not stand here and be called out as some villain with the insidious plan of causing misfortune just so that I can clean it up and look like your savior! The reason that we didn't go HDD was that Neptune is close to being in labor. Right now, she needs all the share energy she can gather to deliver safely."

"It's true, that's why we came here by car!" Added Nepgear.

All the guards looked at each other with hesitation with the valid logic. Even Vivi looked like she was second-guessing herself. "How can I possibly know that to be true?!"

"Then let us leave. If this was my plan, then leaving wouldn't gain much in the way of my goal. Besides, I rather stab myself with my own blade if I ever had the desire to hurt a defenseless citizen of any place."

Vivi had raised her hand to tell her guards to stand down, however, a slow clap had resonated from up high. All eyes were pointed to the source that came from Vivi's home rooftop.

"Well done. I knew that your paranoia and sheltered mind would make you judge your saviors. If only you allowed yourself to toss aside your reasoning," said the voice that turned out to be a woman with black hair and purple eyes.

"Rose? What are you doing?" Asked Vivi.

"Seizing this valuable opportunity, dear sister," she proclaimed as she twirled a metal rod that made Vivi's eyes widened.

"No! That device, it's too dangerous to use!" Shouted Vivi.

"Hey, what's going on, and what's her deal?" Asked Noire.

"This... is my half-sister, Rose," said Vivi with worry in her eyes as to why her sister was acting strange.

"Wow... you give me such a weak introduction. What you should really be saying is that I'm the main researcher for tech development in Dragon's Den," said Rose.

Vivi gasped as she came to a grim realization. "It was you. You set the machines to rampage."

Rose held her smile back with her finger but even that didn't truly help as she burst out laughing. "It took you that long, wow. Yes, it was me. I wanted to see that If you could have disposed of the CPUs for me. Looks like I really do have to get my hands dirty."

"That's a dumb chance if you think you can take me. You terrorized this settlement and made me out to be a villain," said Noire.

"I can take you on now that my device has finally been completed." She held up the metal rod in her hands as it glowed with a faint light at the top.

"Everyone, stop her from using that-" she didn't get to finish when all the guards' weapons overcharged with energy that forced them to drop them all on the ground.

"Ha. You're all fools if you think that my own inventions were going to be used against me. Black Heart, you look slacked-jawed as you haven't been informed of my great invention. This beauty here takes control of Ancient Dragons from their slumbering caves nearby. Watch..." In no time, the sky responded with loud monstrous roars as two Ancient Dragons hovered over Rose's home roof.

"T-That's two giant Ancient Dragons!" Shouted Nepgear who had started to bite her fingernails in panic.

"Crap, I don't have the luxury of transforming," said Noire under her breath.

"N-Noire, let's not try to p-panic. If we work together we can take them both on, even if we have to do it in our base forms," said Nepgear with confidence slowly coming in.

"Yeah... you're right. Our power has long since increased from the union of our nations."

"You CPUs have heart, but this device is more than just a mind-control device. All monsters have a particle-like structure that makes up their bodies. The true power of this device is that I can break down the mass of monsters and use their raw particles as the material to make a new and deadlier monster," shouted Rose.

"Is this true!?" Said Noire to Vivi who looked pale in the face.

"Yes, she can basically great new beings just by fusing the particles from monsters that you can see when they are killed. To create life out of death is insane and that was one of the reasons we restricted the use of her invention."

Rose had started the process as the rod glowed with energy and the two Ancient Dragons started to break down into particles. "Great creature of a new world, come forth and spread your molten demonic wings..."

"Get the citizens to the underground bunker now!" Shouted Vivi to her guards who took that chance to stay clear of the incoming danger as they knew well that they would only get in the way without weapons at their command.

Noire could feel a great power manifesting and she bit her lip as she threw caution to the wind and was about to go into HDD.

"Ah! Lady Noire!" Cried Officer Pac who had been quiet after getting a call from her police radio.

"Nows not a good time!" Retorted Noire.

"Very true, but I thought you should know that your wife is going into labor."

"Huh?!" Noire's heart could burst from the joy of her daughter being born and at the fact that her options had now been sealed off.

"... be born and unleash your cosmic flames of destruction! Rise, Ancient King Meteoric Dragon!" What stood in front of the CPUs was a giant scarlet dragon with orange eyes, and skin with a hardened exterior that resembled molten rocks. It also had flaming red lines going across its body with giant black wings. "Victory is mine for today, I will fulfill my father's greatest dream of a word without CPUs."

 **(West Nepstation General Hospital)**

Around the same time, Purple Heart was fighting her own battle.

"Ahh! It hurts so much!" Purple Heart thrashed around in a hospital bed completely dressed in a hospital gown as she was wheeled to her room by four nurses, including Histoire, Uzume, and Uni. Sweat could be visible across her pained face as she had to endure the pain without her wife by her side.

They reached her room and set up all the monitoring equipment. "Where... is Dr. Cardian?" Asked the pregnant CPU in a soft yet determined voice.

One of the nurses turned to face her. "She has been called up for emergency delivery due to the fact that you are going into labor about one week earlier than we expected the time frame to be," said the nurse.

"Ah! These bursts of pain are starting to get shorter in between. I can feel that the baby is going to be born!" Yelled Purple Heart.

"My Lady, you are still far from the ideal dilation until the baby is born. Once you reach seven or eight centimeters, then that would be when we would have to get things moving," said another nurse.

"Then how far am I now?!" Said Purple Heart with her eyes flaring and her forehead nerves appearing prominent.

"About four centimeters, my lady," said the first nurse.

"Which it seems to be progressing fast when you look at how it was when you got here," said a third nurse.

"Enough! Histoire, have you heard anything about Noire?"

Histoire looked down at the ground in shame. "I haven't been able to contact her directly but the Basilicom has contacted the police station and they have confirmed that they did manage to make contact with the officer that is with them."

"Ugh, even if she knows that I'm going into labor, she won't get here fast enough," said Purple Heart with annoyance.

Uzume took a step forward to give her some reassurance. "Nepsy, don't think that way. She will totally get here on time. In fact, Histy, contact other Histy so that she can get in touch with the others and with Croire."

Everyone in the room looked at Uzume with joy at her bright idea. "That's right. Croire can travel between dimensions but also to places as well in an instant," said Uni.

"Yes, that could work perfectly to get Noire here faster," said Histoire.

"Yes... please do," said Purple Heart with renewed hope. "Ah!"

Both Uni and Uzume couldn't stand to see poor Neptune in such a state. "We know you can endure this Neptune. Grab our hands for support if you have to," they both said.

Purple Heart didn't hesitate on that offer as she gripped their hands tightly to the point of breaking that caused them to yell in pain along with her.

Histoire could only look in shock for a second wondering If this strength was a result of the labor or If Neptune's HDD power was returning to her.

 **(Dragon's Den)**

The landscape had become a warzone that created more destruction than the Draco Units of before. All the citizens had been evacuated underground while Nepgear, Officer Pac, and Vivi were behind an upside-down car.

Ancient King Meteoric Dragon, which would be called AKMD onward, took flight with deadly molten rocks of fire shooting out of its mouth.

Noire refused to shy away from this danger and challenged it head-on. Sadly, knowing that her daughter would need all the share energy to be delivered safely, she didn't have the luxury of transforming. All she could do was dodge.

"We need to do something here," said Nepgear who looked at Vivi for any helpful advice.

"Fat chance. She summoned that monstrous creature to take us all out. Sister... is this how you truly felt in your heart?"

Officer Pac grabbed Vivi by her collar to stare daggers into her. "You need to do something. This is your home, your people who are in danger, and it's up to you to set her straight if she's gone berserk. If you don't, then you will join her in jail when the time comes."

"What? I had nothing to do with this!"

"Your citizen attacked our CPU, in your nation, with your resources. I'm pretty sure there is something there we can hold you for," she said with a stern look.

Vivi sighed with a defeated nod. "There is a latter near a wall behind my house covered by some vines. That will get you up there to my sister."

"Noire! We have a plan that we're going to execute!" Shouted Nepgear.

"Then do it, please. This dragon is aggroed towards me, so go," she said with a fire in her eyes. She couldn't beat this enemy with her current power, but her agility was a vital ace that would keep her safe.

The other three looked up to see that Rose was deeply focused on her creation going berserk. With that in their minds, they made their way behind the house and up the latter.

 **(West Nepstation General Hospital)**

Purple Heart gasped in between screams at the pain that she thought could have never existed. "Out! Mommy loves you but right now you are being a little demon." Her saving grace showed when Dr. Cardian burst from the door, almost tripping, with her blue doctor's uniform finally being fixed.

"Lady Neptune, everything is going to be fine," she basically forced those words out when what she wanted was to catch her breath.

"Oh, thank you. One of the two people that I actually need right now," she said with a deep focus to her breathing to help control the pain.

"The ones you should be thanking are the police cruisers that gave me a straight path to the hospital, but I do wish they didn't take my door down when they picked me up," she said with light humor to lighten the mood of the room.

"No jokes! We can do that when you get this cute little trouble maker out of me!" Yelled Purple Heart. That was an opinion that Uzume, Uni, and Histoire approved of.

Dr. Cardian lifted her clipboard that the nurses had given her. "We will need to wait. It says here that it isn't time yet to deliver." She paused for a few seconds as she scanned all the information. "Wait a minute. These times, and this progression... I need to check how much you are dilated, currently," she said with worry. She sat on her chair that was to the end of Purple Heart's bed with her pregnant CPU's legs slightly elevated. She moved the bedsheets to get a good view, which in return, made Uni and Uzume blush at what they were seeing.

"I know that this is her job, but she does that so naturally," said Uni with a funny face as she held herself from making a scene.

"Yikes, I don't even want to know how it looks down there," said Uzume with a hand on her head.

"Both of you shut up!" Yelled Purple Heart and Histoire.

"This is unexpected! Lady Neptune, I don't know if this is part of your CPU anatomy but the rapid pain you've been feeling means that Euri is going to be born very soon."

Everyone became fearful that Noire would be missing out on her daughter being born. The door then burst open with Ultra Neptune, Ultra Vert, Ultra Blanc, and Plutia funneling into the room.

"We came as soon as we heard!" Shouted all of them but not louder than Plutia and Ultra Neptune. They both heard the other's louder cries of concern and saw that as a challenge onto themselves, yet they bit their cheeks to not speak what they had in their minds.

"Who are all of you? And why do some of you look like the CPUs?" Asked Dr. Cardian.

"Doctor, please... pay them no mind and just focus on delivering my little girl," urged Purple Heart.

The good doctor did just that as she focused on the main task of getting ready to deliver the first CPU baby of Gamindustri.

"Neppy, how are you holding up? My... you're so sweaty, " remarked Plutia who pulled out a small handkerchief to help clean Purple Heart's face.

"This pregnancy is doing a number on me, but I have to hold on. I only wish Noire was by my side," she said between breaths.

"We are so happy that all of you made it here as quickly as possible," said Histoire.

"Don't mention it. Crostie brought us all here like lightning," said Ultra Neptune.

That comment made Croire appear from behind Ultra Neptune. "All of you are ungrateful for making me do a mass travel like that," she said looking tired.

"We do appreciate it, Croire. You might not like this but we ask you again to help us bring Noire here. She's in a settlement outside of Planeptune to the west," said Histoire.

"Hmm, what's in it for me?" She asked with half annoyance and half interest as she hovered close to the bed.

She didn't get her answer when she felt a hand reach out and grab her from behind. Purple Heart had pulled her in until they were eye level with each other. "Listen here. I will not have this baby be born without knowing the presence of her other mommy! You bring her here or I will grab the edges of that book of yours and slam them shut so hard that your tongue will be a bookmark!"

The color on Croire's face drained as all she did was a nod to her. She wasted no time in leaving to fetch Noire after getting the details from Histoire.

For a small moment, there was silence in the room after that display. Then Croire emerged from her portal with a gasp of fright. "That place is a warzone!"

"Where's Noire?"

"She's... fighting some crazily strong dragon and I couldn't reach her. I noticed that she was in her base form meaning that she knows you are in labor," said Croire.

The room grew heavy with concern for Nepgear and Noire.

"Allow me to go and lend a hand!" Came the synchronized response from both Plutia and Ultra Neptune. They looked at each other with a frown as they looked ready to clash again at a moment's notice.

"That's a great idea. Both of you head over there and assist them with the situation, " said Histoire trying to get them to see a more productive goal than just giving each other the stink eye.

 **(Dragon's Den)**

Rose had been detained by the combined efforts of Nepgear and Officer Pac. Officer Pac had done most of the hard work when she tackled Rose on the rooftop ground while Nepgear inspected the metal device that Rose had used.

"Please, tell us how to reverse this dragon back," said Vivi who still believed that her sister could be reasoned with.

"Now why would I do that? This is my dream coming true. Just look at Black Heart. She can barely evade its mighty blows," said Rose.

They checked over at the scorched ground with the fire burning, and the air filled with smog. Noire looked hunched over as she tried to take in fresh air to fill her exhausted lungs. She had been dodging and stabbing away at it as best as she could. Sadly, her stabs might as well be needles trying to puncture a hole in a brick house. She adjusted her stance and cleaned her ash-covered hands with her dress that was also covered in ash.

AKMD appeared from the smog with its mouth burning with another molten attack.

"Damn, this dragon is so annoying." The black-haired girl felt frustrated at the dragon, but what was eating away at her was the need to retreat or else her wife and daughter would meet the same fate if she continued to fight.

AKMD fired another devastating blast of molten fire at her.

Halfway into her reacting, a portal opened up and out came Iris Heart and Ultra Purple Heart who with their combined defense, were able to disperse the blast.

"What are you two doing here?" Asked Noire with a sigh.

"We're your tag in, Noire," said Ultra Purple Heart.

"Yes, Histy was rather insistent that we both come to help you out after Croire told us about this bad monster. Come to think of it, this little guy doesn't even look all that deadly, " said Iris Heart.

Noire frowned at the prideful response. "Don't get cocky. Even if I had the option of transforming, it would give me a fight too close to the chest for my comfort."

Both Ultra CPUs silently became serious at Noire's words.

"We'll keep that in mind. Now, you need to get into the portal quick before Crostie runs out of energy," said Ultra Purple Heart.

"I can't leave these people. I can't leave Nepgear and you two to face this thing. I'm not a coward."

"Would you prefer being a coward than being a dead beat daddy who wasn't even there to see her own daughter being born?" Asked Iris Heart.

Noire didn't even respond to the dad reference for her words cut her to the bone.

"She's right. I wouldn't use her exact words but she's right for you to go. Little me needs you, and right now I'm feeling disappointed that you are choosing a battle over being there for her," said Ultra Purple Heart.

"And that should mean a lot coming from a reckless battle junkie like her," mocked Iris Heart.

Noire looked between both of them with uneasy eyes. In her mind, they both hated each other to the point that cooperation would be a miracle. "Thank you both and please keep focus," she said as her final advice as she jumped into the portal.

The battle had now shifted to two imposing forces ready to do battle instead of a one-sided fight like earlier.

AKMD looked angrier than before if that was even possible.

"Move away, faker. This naughty dragon is my plaything," declared Iris Heart.

Ultra Purple Heart had no time to even refute the fake reference or the ability that she could take down this dragon by herself when Iris Heart blasted into the sky.

"Drive Stab!" She yelled with a volley of successive air cuts made from her blade that tore apart the dragon's hard skin like a Gatling gun. After that, she kicked the air with her high heel that created an intense air shot that ripped a hole in AKMD's chest. "And that's that," she said with a sneer.

When AKMD fell from the sky after that display of power, its mouth let out a giant gust of smoke as if it was trying to let out a final gasp. This smoke covered the ground and also covered its body.

Ultra Purple Heart for being on the ground, could clearly see movement from the smoke and instantly knew the danger. "Plutia! It's a trick!" She launched herself from the ground at the same time AKMD emerged from the cloud of smoke.

"Reaction Force!" Shouted Ultra Purple Heart who made it in time to stop a wild headbutt from AKMD that would have left a lasting impression on Iris Heart were it not for Ultra Purple Heart. AKMD lost momentum from the skill guard and appeared to be dazed in mid-air. "Reaction Shot!" The purple-haired CPU unleashed the power she took from AKMD right back to it. The blast, just like Iris Heart's attack, pushed it flying back and caused it to hit one of the guard walls of Dragon's Den.

"I... I didn't need your help," declared Iris Heart after pulling herself out of her trance.

"Is that so? You look very pale right now from almost being headbutted," said Ultra Purple Heart with a slightly elevated chest

"Grrr... don't end up eating your own words now. If I remember correctly, that skill attack takes a lot out of you."

"I know that. I've broken the promise I made to my Noire about not using it, but I had nothing else up my sleeve that could have blocked that raw strength," said Ultra Purple Heart.

"Are you two okay?!" Came the shouts of Nepgear from a good distance away.

"Don't worry about us," reassured Ultra Purple Heart.

They heard a loud roar filled with anger, and then they witness AKMD get back up with previous wounds healing.

"Are you kidding me? I hit it with a force equal to its own," said Ultra Purple Heart speechless.

"It's able to heal wounds. Even critical ones like a punctured hole in the chest," said Iris Heart.

AKMD's energy changed to a focus and critical aura. Its body shifted quick and before both of the CPUs could notice, it was in front of them in the sky.

"Dodge!" Cried Ultra Purple Heart.

AKMD whipped its tail that made contact with the side of Iris Heart. It then clawed at Ultra Purple Heart who barely managed to hold up her swords to stop the claws from getting to her. Of course, the force still pushed her back. Not letting up, AKMD opened its mouth for a close-range fireball attack.

"Ah!" Iris Heart returned to the fight with her sword folded into her whip form. The jagged blades wrapped around the dragon's neck that stopped its fiery attack altogether. "And when did I give you permission to whip me!?" With all her strength, she pulled AKMD down until it crashed to the ground with its neck exposed. "Faker, do it now!" Shouted Iris Heart.

"Stop calling me that! Decisive Edge!" Her twin swords crashed down from above to deliver a brutal decapitation that caused AKMD to go silent.

"Serves you right foul beast," replied Iris Heart who looked tired from her exertion.

"Did we get it? I doubt it can heal from that..." The words were snuffed from her mouth when the body started to twitch and it stood back up as its head grew back from the stump of a neck it had.

"Are you kidding me?!" Raged Iris Heart.

They then got hit by a giant sharp gust of wind from AKMD's wings that send them on a collision to the front wall of Vivi's house.

"That thing... it can even heal a severed head," groaned both of the CPUs after they hit the wall. The wall was one thing, but the wind that it produced was sharp like knives that gave them a few cuts around their bodies.

"What is it doing now?" Asked Iris Heart when she glanced that AKMD had its head lowered with its eyes closed.

The one to answer her was Nepgear who had raced down from the roof with officer Pac, Vivi, and Rose who has been handcuffed. "It looks like it's taking a minute to get its neck fully working. I think that's why it didn't hit you both with a fire blast.

"Once that thing gets proper motor functions working around its neck and head, it's going to take us all out. Rose, you need to tell us how to beat it," said Vivi with another plead.

"Save your breath, sister. I'm doing this for father's legacy," she said with unshakable resolve.

"You're delusional if you think father's ideal world would be born out of violence and death."

"Enough small chatter. You won't talk to your sister and I don't care about any of your emotional childhood backstories, so talk to me... and I have been quite known to get people to talk," said Iris Heart with her sadistic aura that flowed out and made Rose fearful of a fate worse than death.

"Even... even... if I tell you how to beat it, you can't achieve that feat. The device I used was only made to fuse multiple dragons together, and after that, it would become useless. Also, the option of controlling that Dragon is out of the question since its brain waves have altered to become a higher complex creature beyond a mere dragon," replied Rose.

"Then just tell us its weaknesses before I use my favorite methods to force you to speak," said Iris Heart with her whip at the ready.

"I was getting to that! As I said, it's useless to you both since you need to hit it with more power to override its healing factor. Your attacks are fair, but it hasn't felt trauma that it couldn't heal yet," mocked Rose with a triumphant smile.

"Then there's no chance of stopping it. The only ones I can think that can be able to do a greater output of damage would have to be our older sisters. Sadly, that isn't realistic right now with Neptune in labor, Noire, Uni, and I conserving our share energy, and Blanc and Vert being unreachable," said Nepgear.

Everyone remained silent as they desperately tried to find a solution to this mess. Ultra Purple Heart looked back at AKMD who looked ready to restart the fight again. "It looks like the only choice we have is for me to take on its attacks until I've gained enough power to overtake it," she said with a frown.

"What? Please don't tell me that you're going to do that skill attack that Neptune told me about?" Said Nepgear with a disappointed frown on her face that made the Ultra CPU feel taken aback.

"What other option do we have?"

"No, that destroys your body when you use it. The Noire from Ultra wouldn't want you to use it either," stated Nepgear.

"I don't want to use it either because I don't want to break my promise further but... I can't think of no other ideas."

"W-We do... give me time to work on this device," she blurted out.

"What?" Said, everyone.

"You're wasting your time. That device is fried beyond repair once it's been used," scoffed Rose. Her remark earned her a light hit to the head from Officer Pac who looked at Nepgear with a smile.

"Don't underestimate Lady Nepgear. She's not called a gearhead for nothing."

Nepgear blushed at the flattery and reassured Ultra Purple Heart with a nod.

"Just give me a few minutes. I have tools on me that can help me crack open the frame of this device and see how it works."

"Hmph, we can save her selfish sacrifice for plan B. I can supply you with the time you need by myself," proclaimed Iris Heart.

Ultra Purple Heart gritted her teeth in anger at her heroic act being underplayed, but for the first time, she could look at Iris Heart and respect her option to fight an unwinnable fight. "I'm not going to let you hog the spotlight," said Ultra Purple Heart with a firm smirk.

They both looked at each other with a nod at the situation that required more of their self's than just their personal differences with each other would allow.

"Let me take the first charge. Once I restrained it, then hit it with an attack that will slow it down," said Iris Heart.

"Fine, let's do this."

Iris Heart blasted from her position as she propelled toward AKMD.

The fight was on, as AKMD challenged her with a mighty roar. Iris Heart dashed to the side and dashed again to the opposite side to throw it off. She got underneath a claw attack from it and delivered an elbow blow to its face.

AKMD staggered for the briefest of seconds until it gave her a deathly stare filled with anger.

"Did I say you could look at me?!" She roared with joyful mockery in her voice. She unleashed her jagged whip that wrapped around the neck of AKMD. With all her might, she pulled its head down to the ground. "Normally, there is a safe word but for you, I'll make a special exception!" She pulled back her whip and ensnared it around the base of its wings to immobilize it.

AKMD flexed its wings but to no success was it able to get free.

"I do love it when they struggle. Go all out if you must. You won't be able to break the bindings for a CPU weapon is virtually unbreakable against a non-CPU enemy."

The rampant dragon struggled greatly. Its skin soon started to burn bright red with heat from built-up anger.

Iris Heart could feel the heat get to her as her high-heels became hotter. "Grr... man, talk about hot-blooded. Hey, it's your turn now, hit it with everything you got!"

"Omega Slash!" Cried Ultra Purple Heart as she channeled a move similar to one of her counterpart's attacks. Her attack was composed of four energy slashes that struck the body of AKMD just as Iris Heart dodged away. The four strikes became a prison-like containment field that encased the mighty beast. Its enclosed prison was not for long when it exploded with it in it.

Both Iris Heart and Ultra Purple Heart held their breath with the hope that they actually managed to beat it. Their hearts sank when the dust was blown away to reveal a badly damaged beast with scars, burns, and even holes all over its chest.

"That thing is healing again," said Ultra Purple Heart.

Iris Heart summoned her sword. Sadly, her sword had been badly damaged after it was still used to ensnare the dragon when the blast went off, and the only form still available was her whip.

"I'm out of options," declared Ultra Purple Heart.

"Yeah... so am I with my sword damaged."

The sounds of rapid footsteps made them turn around to see Nepgear with the metal rod device. "It's... done..." she said with tired breaths.

"You did?! That's my dimensional little sister for you," said Ultra Purple Heart.

"Kyaa! Please, don't praise me. I've managed to reverse it's original design so that it will defuse it. The only drawback is that the range is short where it can distort the particles, so you will need to throw this literally inside it."

"Then there's no time left until it heals fully and we're back to square one!" Said Iris Heart

Ultra Purple Heart took the device and charged at AKMD. With it still not fully healed, its movements were limited.

It fired wide unrelenting blasts of fire to keep her at a distance, but she wasn't going to let this opportunity go. After she dodged a wave of fire, she slid next to its belly with the device in hand. It was a match game as she got an excellent chance to throw it.

The next second followed a giant smash to the ground caused by a foot and a loud roar that died out as two Ancient Dragons stood in confusion at their surroundings. They quickly vanished to the skies after making eye contact with Iris Heart.

"They did it!" Shouted Vivi in joy along with Officer Pac while Rose slumped to the ground in defeat.

Nepgear and Iris Heart moved up to the hole in the ground that was caused by AKMD's giant stomp. The debris that had formed in the area quickly dissipated to reveal Ultra Neptune in her base form, with her whole body buried inside the ground, with the exception of her right hand sticking out.

"If you ask me, this burial is too good for her," said Iris Heart with a snarky giggle.

That drove the response of a muffled Ultra Neptune. "I'm not dead!"

Nepgear quickly jumped into action as she pulled her out with uneven coughs from Ultra Neptune. "Are you hurt?"

"No more than a giant size foot landing on me. Hmm... owieee, even my hoodie is hurting, " groaned Ultra Neptune.

"See, she's fine," said Iris Heart.

"Just don't move. I'll get you some water to wash the dirt out of your mouth."

Iris Heart gave the purple-haired girl a wide smirk after Nepgear had left.

"You know, I'm seeing double right now, so can you spare me that face you're making?" Asked Ultra Neptune.

"Hmm, you sure know how to play things close to the chest. What if you died?" Iris Heart folded her arms to continue to act detached.

"You talk like I don't know what you did, Plutia. In those few seconds where everyone was looking at me and that chaotic firestorm, you used your whip to reduce the weight of its foot on me."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and this is all just mere delusions," said Iris Heart.

"You can deny it but I know you were thinking about the little one. If not for me or Noire."

Iris Heart showed an agonizing face from that statement, then closed her eyes to think. "Neptune... I'm many things. Some I can be fine with, but I refuse to let a little one parish just because of her parents, and especially when I can do something about it."

"Wow, you do care."

"Well... this form does help me get some serious thoughts in order. Look, I hate you and you hate me, but in the end, we share a bond with our Neptune that I refuse to throw away." She reverted back to her human form, this time with an Ultra Neptune Plushy in her hands. "Blanc tells me that sometimes I need to step forward when I make a big mess. So, here..." She placed the Ultra Neptune Plushy next to the girl who looked at it with wide eyes. "No strings attached, no begging, and no other bad things. I'm sorry for the mean things that I said and I want us to get along."

"I... can do that, Plutia. And... I'm sorry about messing up your nation." For the first time, they allowed each other to smile genuinely at each other.

A short time later, Officer Pac had placed Rose into her police car. "Will be taking her in to charge her for all her assaults."

"She should face the charges here with the rest of the council, including me," said Vivi.

"That would be the case but she assaulted our CPU. That makes it our problem."

"I'm sorry, Vivi. I won't be able to do anything about this at the moment since this is a rule that our police force enforces. I will talk to my sister and Noire to see if they can make an exception," said Nepgear.

"I hope that Lady Neptune will see reason and that Lady Noire will forgive us for this inconvenient time."

"They'll come around, I'm sure of it. With my niece being born, that's going to get them in a good mood," said Nepgear.

That made Vivi smile softly. "With a baby being born comes happiness, then after that, it's the baby's main mission to make her parents restless. Lady Nepgear, perhaps I will take up your offer of joining Nepstation. This ordeal that struck us was too much for us to handle, and it would be helpful if we could receive aid after most of our trading materials were destroyed. I will be frank, it's going to take time for the people to put our faith in you all, but you earned our gratitude here today."

Yes, of course. We can help you with aid and materials to get you all back on your feet. Also, with you joining Nepstation, it will make it easier to be able to see your sister."

"Thank you. I know that my father would have disagreed with this, but he would have also disagreed with me abandoning my sister. I hope that the latter can overshadow the first. I want to still believe that my sister can reform and see her errors." Vivi exchanged a silent face of sadness to her sister who could do nothing but be bitter at all of her failures. But there was one other expression only shown for a fleeting second, and that was relief that she would still see someone familiar where she would be going.

 **(West Nepstation General Hospital)**

The time was nearing and everyone was forced to leave the room with the exception of Noire.

Uni paced back and forth with the shouts of Purple Heart plaguing her ears. "Oh. That sounds too painful. I hope Noire can deal with the iron grip of her wife, " said Uni.

"Don't sweat it. She's the one that has to do that, and it's all going to be worth it when she sees her daughter and your cute little niece, " said Uzume with dreamy eyes.

"My niece... I can hardly wait. Do you think she'll like guns, too?" Asked Uni excitedly.

"She'll be a baby and I don't think she'll be too gun-crazy off the bat," replied Histoire.

Some light footsteps caught the attention of the CPUs and when they turned around, it was Ultra Black Heart wearing casual clothes. "Has the baby been born yet?" She asked with a timid voice that was hard to believe it actually came from her.

"She's still in labor but the baby is due any minute now," said Histoire.

"Why are you in HDD?" Asked Uni.

This question brought all the residents of Ultra that consisted of Ultra Blanc, Ultra Vert, and Uzume to a shy rub of the neck. The air clearly showed that they left out an interesting turn of events that happened in their world.

"I see. Please, don't pay me any mind right now. This moment is for them after all," she said with a smile.

Inside the room, Purple Heart's brutal trial of giving birth had reached its climax.

The other two occupants in the room, Dr. Cardian, was ready to receive the baby and Noire, she was by her wife's side with her hand being crushed from all the squeezing.

"Ahh! Get out! Get out!" Screamed Purple Heart with drops of sweat all over her face.

"Neptune, don't let those be the first words Euri hears."

"When you're feeling this pain, then you can speak your opinion!" Yelled the pregnant CPU. Noire's eyes started to grow heavy with fatigue from her fight from before. She shook the dark spots that were clouding her eyes and kissed her wife's forehead.

The final push began and then came the soft, yet full of energy cries of the little bundle of joy. The room became intensely silent as they all took in the little cries and pouts of a defenseless being that was only beginning to understand her senses and surroundings.

"Lady Noire... she's beautiful," said Dr. Cardian with a smile.

Noire reached her hand out only to have her eyes grow heavy and her world went dark.

A while later, light pierced her closed eyelids and she awoke with a groggy sound in her throat. Her eyes landed on a body that rested on a bed that was a few feet away from her.

This body was her wife who had changed back into her human form. "Look who's finally awake," said Neptune who appeared to be on the same level of exhaustion as her wife.

"Neptune?! You're a sight for sore eyes from seeing you back in your bite-sized form," she said with a tearful smile. "What happened? Where's the baby?" Proclaimed Noire.

"It's all good, honey. You were out of it for an hour, kind of like me but I was zoning in and out. They said that my body returned to adorable me again after a few minutes after Euri was delivered. The others already came and had their full view of little Euri," said Neptune. Despite her playful attitude, she still looked like she had seen better days.

"So the baby..."

"She's over there in that crib. Do me the favor of bringing her to me, Noire. I kind of held myself back from getting a good look until you woke up, and it was hard to do because I told everyone else to stop giving it away."

"Neptune, while that may be sweet in its own way, a baby needs her mother's touch right away," angrily explained Noire. She reached the hospital crib to lay a soft gaze at a small body wrapped in a blanket.

She carefully picked up her daughter with the most gentle hands at her disposal. "She's... so tiny," she whimpered with trembling hands. The love she felt in her heart was too great that it could burst.

"Yup. I bet she's also soft and warm, too. Let me see her," Noire looked at her wife's eyes to see a set that was on the verge of tears behind that smile.

Neptune's breath hitched when she got a glimpse of Euri's sleeping face. Her baby's face was round with soft cheeks and pink hair.

"I'm surprised that her hair looks to be more pink than purple," said Noire softly to her wife.

"Histoire told me her theory on that is that she isn't considered a full CPU yet and she's technically lower than a candidate, too. I don't really mind. I want her to stay as my little girl as long as I can wish for. On the day she comes into her own as a CPU, then she will get her blues."

"I see..." Noire's breath also stopped when Euri opened her eyes from the chatter she was hearing. Noire made contact with beautiful red eyes that stared back at her.

"She has your eyes, Noire. Oh, big plus." If Neptune wasn't holding her daughter, she would have probably danced on top of the bed.

"Euri, I'm your momma Noire..." She didn't know why but maybe it was for effect to make a cool impression on her daughter, she smirked and flicked her hair in a typical prideful Tsun-fashion. "... So that means that you don't need to worry about being in charge yet. We'll keep the nation running for a long time so that you can stay as our little girl. And when the day comes that you become grown-up, then... then you'll still be our little girl... So... So... You better get used to it."

Euri fussed in Neptune's arms clearly showing some objections. "Could she be protesting on that? Could it be that she wants to follow in papa Noire's footsteps and be a Tsun that does everything?"

"S-stop messing around, Neptune." Barked Noire with vicious teeth that made Euri giggle.

 **It's finally done. Thank you everyone for sticking with this story, and for waiting so long for the conclusion. I do want to continue this story but I need to see if this chapter was able to be uploaded- if you're reading this, then no problems there. I've also considered expanding to other fandoms to have variety on my work, so if you're a fan of Citrus the anime/manga and Fate series as a whole, I'll be expanding to those. I won't go into detail now, but I will try to be active for the rest of the year to come. Any questions? Feel free to ask!**


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